When trying to build for Generic Esp8266 I'm getting error indicating that {build.flash_ld} and {build.flash_size} are not expanding. Possible others as well? But after hard coding these values in the platform.txt from the boards.txt file it seemed to work.

Question: what feature actually expands these <Macros?> is the linker or compiler or some feature in studio? Can I make changes to the project to resolve these issues?

http://arduino.esp8266.com/staging/package_esp8266com_index.json

And I've notified igrr@esp8266/Arduino, who asked if it ran ok in the Arduino invironment, which it does. So he did not feel very concerned. But this features does make future builds a big hassle.

Hi,

I've tried both the stable and the staging versions and they worked well for me. 

I can see flash_size has resolved to "-bz 512K"

1)
These settings are automatically applied as a result of the board options menu items that you select via the Visual Micro menu. What did you selected or did you leave them on default?

2)
So that I can see your configuration please switch on "tools>options>visual micro>compiler>show build properties", also switch on "Verbose messages" then build and email the output to info[at]visualmicro.com

3)
Also confirm that you see all the board options on the Visual Micro menu?

Thanks