Yeah, most of what you asked is hidden around here somewhere, but I'm at work and bored so I figured I'd rather waste time here than doing anything for "them".
When the Emu is broke you are stuck, unless you have the older (unpatched with Live) files. Which version of the Emu you use is dictated by when you last patched with Live. I don't recall seeing a list of what works with what but you can probably use the release dates of the Emu versus the Live patch. Once you have a working Emu do not patch with Live until the Emu has caught up. Best way to do this is to have 2 folders; one containing your Live EQ (if you want to still play on Live) and the other your currently working Emu files.
How long does it take to get the Emu working with Live? It depends. The Devs work until they draw blood (and sometimes longer) to fix what Sony broke for them. It's a constant battle of good vs. evil. Sony makes it as difficult as possible for the Devs to keep the Emu working. It would be nice if the Devs did a code freeze to a certain patch/expansion and spent time fixing what was already in the game. But how they work and what their priorities are is their call, and they are doing a great job with a monstrous endeavor so I'll wait.
The compiling adventure? Well, that's more fun than a train when you have low health and a half-zone run. Grab some release code and go at it. There are a bunch of things you have to setup and configure in order to get it compiled. And once compiled you'll need the right files as said above in order to test it all. From what I understand of the process you'll be spending some quality time tweaking settings until you get all the pieces of the puzzle in the right places before you'll see a successful compile. Some people are lucky, most are challenged. You won't know until you dive in and see what happens, by then maybe the Emu will be Live compatible and ready to rock and roll.
Good luck...
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