ok, this is REALLY annoying. i'm trying to turn off unicode from the character set, but i cant find that option, i know i sound dumb, but i looked all over the internet. it says this "project->project properties->configuration-> general-> character set" i don't have that. i have project settings then general and all thats there is microsoft foundation classes input and output. i have msvc++ 6.0. pretty please help, thank you!!!

Have you considered using a post-stoneage IDE?
No one sane have used 6.0 for years, so don't expect many people to be able to help you out with this.

You do know that there are free versions of VS2005 and 2008, right?

i figured out what it was, i'm just stupid, im using directx 9 and c++ 6.0. and directx 9 is completely incompatible with 6.0 i guess. thanks, i didn't know there were free versions, i'm upgrading now.