General Question about VBulletin

jediteknoman · 09-02-2007, 01:52 AM

Hey guys I have an issue at the moment with my forum and just wondering what I should be doing next.

What I have done is that I uploaded the database of the old forum that I bought from which was using VBulletin and placed it on the server. I had restored by my webhost but when I had a look at my forum, I do not see there is any change with it.

Here are the steps that I did.

1) Go into cPanel and create a mySQL database. Set the username and password to something very difficult to figure out. I recommend writing both down, as you'll need them later. You will need to create a user first, then the database which you will have to give all permissions to (sounds difficult but cPanel's way of doing it is very easy.

2) Upload the vBulletin files in ASCII and edit the config file in the /includes/ folder and put in the database username and password that you made in cPanel.

3) Run the vBulletin install command (www.yourdomain.com/forum/install/install.php). Of course, replace "yourdomain" with the domain you have it on and "forum" to whatever folder you put the vBulletin files in.

4) After the install completes and is successful, contact your provider and give them the mySQL password you used for the database and they will use that information to extract the database I sent you. Once that's complete, all the forums and posts should appear on your "new" forum. From there you will just have to find a skin to suit the site

Hence there was something I saw quite odd about the forums in general as I noticed there was "vb3_(with the name like 'user')" replicated for the name but has like 987 records. Compared to the field 'user' has one. So I'm puzzled. If anyone wants me to submit a couple screenshots, I'll be happy to show you.

So I'm stumped. Any advice?

**LC Interactive** · 09-02-2007, 02:47 PM

If you still have the installer can't you just try and re install it?

jediteknoman · 09-02-2007, 03:54 PM

I tried it again but now I have this error on my webpage for some reason...

Quote - "Warning: require_once(/home/tecxforc/public_html/forum/includes/local_links_init.php) [function.require-once]: failed to open stream: No such file or directory in /includes/functions_forumlist.php(351) : eval()'d code on line 3

Fatal error: require_once() [function.require]: Failed opening required '/home/tecxforc/public_html/forum/includes/local_links_init.php' (include_path='.:/usr/lib/php:/usr/local/lib/php') in /home/tecxforc/public_html/forum/includes/functions_forumlist.php(351) : eval()'d code on line 3"

I don't get it...

**LC Interactive** · 09-02-2007, 03:56 PM

I've only installed 2 vB's but never encountered a problem...

..then again they were old versions >.<

Sry man can't help ya, may-b another member can.

jediteknoman · 09-02-2007, 04:45 PM

Thanks for that. Well here is something quite odd I have to say. I managed to recreate a new database and reinstalled VB, works fine.

Then I imported the old database but it says I have this number of users and posts but I don't see the threads or posts.

What would I have to do to get that fixed?

**Sean** · 09-03-2007, 07:34 PM

Hey sorry for the late reply, to restore an backup vBulletin database follow these steps.

1) upload the vBulletin files and run the installer
2) restore the database via PHPMYADMIN

If all goes well, u will see your orginal members but none of the restored posts - to see the posts u will need to access ADMINCP and then MAINTENANCE --> UPDATE COUNTERS

Here u can rebuild thread information, forum information etc, once u run these tasks u will then see the posts.

jediteknoman · 09-03-2007, 07:40 PM

Thanks Sean. I managed to do that and it worked like a charm.

However there is one thing I have found, all the threads/posts and users have been restored but the threads/posts are all mixed up in the wrong spots for some reason.

Looks like I have to do it manually in resorting all those posts/threads to fit under the right section of the forum.

Anyhow the next thing I need to do is upload that Darkness skin I asked you about Sean.

What do I need to do to make the skin work with the forum that I have running? By default the forum is installed under .../public_html/forum

**Sean** · 09-03-2007, 07:48 PM

The restore should of uploaded all posts and threads to the same category they were in when u backed up the forum.. did u run all the counter options in the ADMINCP panel?

For the darkness skin to work, u just need to upload the image directory to /forum/images/ and upload the template XML via styles manager

jediteknoman · 09-03-2007, 07:52 PM

Heh. Well I did not back up the forum to tell ya the truth Sean, the owner who I bought it from must of rearranged it and then backed it up and sent the file for me to download.

But if what you say is true, I know it would have been restored to the right sections and subfolders etc. Doesn't matter now.

Thanks for the heads up for how to upload the skin and all. Btw, where could I get some decent smilies/emoticons for the forum?

And a general question - is the Shoutbox a separate plugin for the VBulletin forums?

**Sean** · 09-03-2007, 08:11 PM

Quote:

Heh. Well I did not back up the forum to tell ya the truth Sean, the owner who I bought it from must of rearranged it and then backed it up and sent the file for me to download.

ah ok yeah i remember u saying that now, he must of backed it up like this.

You can get free smilies from vBulletin.org Forum - The Official vBulletin Resource! and you will get the shoutbox from there also, as the shoutbox is not a default feature of vBulletin