jengil:
Yes, I thought that may be an issue, but it seems I should be able to use atmel studio to do it as well.
Most of this community knowledge and processes is based on using the arduino IDE, AS is a whole different universe and while I'm sure there are some members here that could get AS to work you are most likely going to have problems trying to locate needed information. Certainly using Windows 8.1 is no problem getting arduino platform and tools to work, only installing older 'unsigned' USB drivers requires special instructions but I was able to find such instructions on the web to get around that road bump.