Lynne, thanks for this help :D
forum is located at mysite.com/forums
this script is located at mysite.com/file/vbtest/test.php and the .html is in that folder too.
test.php file code..
<?php
// ######################## SET PHP ENVIRONMENT ###########################
error_reporting(E_ALL & ~E_NOTICE);
// ##################### DEFINE IMPORTANT CONSTANTS #######################
// change the line below to the actual filename without ".php" extention.
// the reason for using actual filename without extention as a value of this constant is to ensure uniqueness of the value throughout every PHP file of any given vBulletin installation.
define('THIS_SCRIPT', 'test');
// #################### PRE-CACHE TEMPLATES AND DATA ######################
// get special phrase groups
$phrasegroups = array();
// get special data templates from the datastore
$specialtemplates = array();
// pre-cache templates used by all actions
$globaltemplates = array(
// change the lines below to the list of actual templates used in the script
'test_mytesttemplate1',
);
// pre-cache templates used by specific actions
$actiontemplates = array();
// ########################## REQUIRE BACK-END ############################
chdir('/home/netgoon/public_html/domains/mysite.com/forums');
require_once('./global.php');
// #################### HARD CODE JAVASCRIPT PATHS ########################
$headinclude = str_replace('clientscript', $vbulletin->options['bburl'] . '/clientscript', $headinclude);
// ################################################## ######################
// ######################### START MAIN SCRIPT ############################
// ################################################## ######################
$navbits = array();
// change the line below to contain whatever you want to show in the navbar (title of your custom page)
$navbits[$parent] = 'Test Page';
$navbits = construct_navbits($navbits);
eval('$navbar = "' . fetch_template('navbar') . '";');
// change the line below to contain the name of the actual main output template used in your script
eval('print_output("' . fetch_template('test_mytesttemplate1') . '");');
?>
test_mytesttemplate1.html code..
$stylevar[htmldoctype]
<html dir="$stylevar[textdirection]" lang="$stylevar[languagecode]">
<head>
$headinclude
<title>$vboptions[bbtitle]</title>
</head>
<body>
$header
$navbar
<table class="tborder" cellpadding="$stylevar[cellpadding]" cellspacing="$stylevar[cellspacing]" border="0" width="100%" align="center">
<tr>
<td class="tcat">My Custom Page Title</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td class="alt1">Other Bluff...</td>
</tr>
</table>
$footer
</body>
</html>