title: SFML static vs dynamic library loading. How does visual studio specify this?
body: <p>I'm currently trying to get SFML setup in Visual Studio. I've been following the tutorial here: <a href="http://www.sfml-dev.org/tutorials/2.4/start-vc.php" rel="nofollow">http://www.sfml-dev.org/tutorials/2.4/start-vc.php</a></p>
  
  <p>I've gotten to the point where I've specified the library location and which .lib's I want to use.</p>
  
  <p>However, I'm confused at the part where it states that the previous actions have just setup the project to load the libraries dynamically. This confuses me. Have I not just specified the .lib files? And aren't .lib files static libraries? Why would the project be configured to dynamically load a library after specifying static lib files?</p>
  
  <p>Furthermore, when I go to run the demo project. It states that the dll's can not be found... </p>
  
  <p>The tutorial then goes onto state that if you want to statically link to the libraries, you have to specify different .lib files and define a preprocessor macro. </p>
  
  <p>So my question: How exactly does Visual Studio decide whether or not the library you pointed to will be loaded statically or dynamically? It seems like if I wanted to load a library dynamically, I would have to point to directory containing dlls, not libs.</p>
  
  <p>Any help?</p>