Ok, the reason is that python 2.4 is the version of python necessary for the compiler! also the blender/python scripts are written in 2.4. this likely wont need changing.
In the process of finding this out I realized that the source archive is missing the libs dirs SVNROOT/lib/ and bf-blender/lib/
also libraries such as .jpg, .png, and zlib are not included, however it gives links(probably expired) to go get them. these libraries should be able to be found one way or another.
Another issue:
https://svn.blender.org/svnroot/bf-blender/trunk/lib/windows
this link is dead. I was able to find an archived copy of the page but that’s from 2013 and references blender 2.5+ so is not applicable to this project. Finding the svn and bf-blender libs for 249b will likely be something I’ll have to ask for here.
I really need help here. just figuring out how to build this is becoming a task that’s probably less confusing than it looks but… The more people scouring this source the better.