Thank you rdb for taking the time to respond and share your wisdom. I have no idea why, but my VS15 just doesnt like 7.1 toolset. Maybe I didnt install it correctly, or maybe there was something else I needed to install and havent. I was able to narrow it down to VS by the following steps:
(1) started with an empty console project
(2) set toolset to 7.1SDK
(3) wrote int main() {return 0;}
(4) set from debug to release
results were the same “-1073741515” compiler error. Thus isolating the problem to my setup. I just have no idea what I would have to do to fix it.
As for the linker error, I double checked it, and it indeed was added to the list correctly. My theory is that since that lib file was not compatible with V120_XP, it couldnt be read therefore saying the file could not be found???
HOWEVER, I did install both the x86 and x64 versions of Panda 1.10 and it is working fine so far. I am actually currently on the “Camera Control” chapter of the manual.
I still welcome any and all input, I am always willing to learn something.