fwiw – I have been able to successfully send os_printf(“message”) values to the serial port from the ESP8266 when programmed with VisualGDB.
Reminder that if not otherwise initialized, the default port speed is 74880 (8N1 / no flow control); this can be very useful when debugging as there are system messages always printed at powerup / reset time.
I suggest also the very first thing to send is a message with the exact version you are testing, as I have had occasion when it would appear that code was sent to device, but not.