Does testnet even work for this build? I'm not having any luck with mining in testnet or even -gen=1 working.
Yes. But in order for any network to work (generate blocks) you need at least two nodes. Apparently, nobody is using the test net at the moment, or you/they disabled IRC etc. Just start a second test net node and you will be able to generate blocks.
I know that and did try that. Both nodes showed 2 connections.. there seems to be a node always showing up besides mine too .. "207.12.89.135. I attempted to mine through the client in testnet with 2 nodes connected and got 0 hps. I tried to connect with my stratum server and mine.. it connected and worked fine.. but the shares are all rejected.. same stratum that the real client accepts. I just thought someone here may know about it.. i'm not motivated enough to go through the code to find out.