Actually, I put a readme file in the build helper directory that says this:
These batch and project files build all the dependencies you need for the *coin daemon and Qt application, both 32 and 64 bit versions. But you need to fix them up before you can use them. The first thing you should do is move this folder to the root of your BitcoinDeps directory. You also need to make sure that ActivePerl is in your path and MSVC12 is installed in it's normal place. If not, edit the batch file as needed.
Ok, thanks - missed the perl path. But still needs python (and nasm) as well. Unfortunately the build scripts don't check for it in the beginning, so you could be compiling for an hour, only to have it fail after.
As far as nasm goes, I am using the nasm that comes with VS. But in the past I have used the Netwide Assembler. Is there any advantage to switching?
Visual Studio doesn't have a 'nasm'. It has masm (launched via ml.exe or ml64.exe). I don't mind using ml.exe but your openssl build script specifically looks for nasm. (In this case ml.exe was in my path if it wanted to use that instead.)