Here's one answer to my own question in the message above, about building TheGreatCodeholio's great code for DOSBox-X without a full copy of Visual Studio 2008. This is only one way to build it - and certainly not the best way, because at one point I did the equivalent of hitting the code with a hammer to make it go, instead of solving a problem in the simplest possible way. So:
One way to build DOSBox-X in Visual C++ 2008 Express Edition under 32-bit Windows 7
1. Download and install Visual C++ 2008 Express Edition (free download; search for it).
2. Download and install the 2008 version of the DirectX SDK (also free)
3. Integrate the DirectX SDK into VC++ by following the instructions in the first answer here:
http://social.msdn.microsoft.com/Forums/en-US … rum=Vsexpressvc
4. Download and extract the latest source code for DOSBox-X from the link in TheGreatCodeholio's first message in this thread.
5. In the source code directory, use VC++2008 Express Edition to open vs2008\dosbox-x.sln
6. I got an error message about a file that failed to load in \vs2008\zlib\contrib\vstudio\vc9\zlibstat.vcproj. There is probably a simple way to fix this in the GUI, but I couldn't find it, so here is a brute-force way to do it that seems to work:
7. In the Solution Explorer, right-click on "zlibstat (unavailable)" and choose "Edit zlibstat.vcproj". In the XML file you will find ten lines that begin with the string:
InheritedPropertySheets="
and with a path and filename between quotation marks. In each of these lines, remove the string between the quotation marks so that the lines all read:
InheritedPropertySheets=""
Save and close the XML file. Right-click again on "zlibstat (unavailable)" and choose Reload Project.
8. Right-click on Solution 'dosbox-x' (6 projects), choose Build.
Someone who knows something about C++ (I don't know anything about it) will probably figure that out in two minutes, but it took me a few hours of trial and error. Anyway, I hope this may be useful to other complete beginners like myself.
Edit: I tested this on a 32-bit Windows 7 system, by the way, not 64-bit.