I want to be able to load a known function from a DLL that is not know until run-time.

The program looks in a directory for DLLs and then loads them and calls a function common to all the dlls in that directory.

In C++ this is cake but I can’t find an equivalent for VB.NET anywhere.

below is some Pseudo code for those that don't know what i want to do.

typedef unsigned char* (__stdcall *Buffer)();
Buffer buf;
HINSTANCE LoadMe;
char* loc = "xbcdrc.dll"; //could do be any dll
LoadMe = LoadLibrary(loc);
buf = (Buffer)GetProcAddress(LoadMe, "GetBuffer");

I do not think you can just load a library like that in .NET without using unmanaged code. Perhaps that is why you are gaving a hard time with VB.net, you may not be able to use umanaged code in VB.NET.

There are, however ways, of creating assemblies which will delegate functions in a DLL, look that up at http://www.thecodeproject.com -- there are a lot of articles up there on code delegates in .net.