Questions before I purchase the license.

[mandy02]

I really want to buy VBulletin. But I need to make sure I have all of my questions answered before I take the plunge.

Right now I am running a forum on PHPBB3 3.06. It is heavily MOD'ed. The mods that are installed are mostly already prepackaged in VBulletin. That's what I like. But I have some questions.

1. I have a couple of MODs that I would have to do to VBulletin. I need a Thank You Hack and a Chat Hack. If install VBulletin and then add these hacks, it doesn't invalidate any support I'm paying for does it?

2. I read that you can use an importer tool to go from PHPBB3 to VBulletin. The fact that I have a heavily MOD'ed version of PHPBB3 should not render this impossible right?

3. I briefly read somewhere that you can only have one copy of VBulletin running if you only have one license. But then I read that you can have a "test forum" also. Does this mean I can have two copies of VBulletin? One live and one test? It's really important for me to have a test environment.

4. I was looking at the VBulletin Suite because I really like the idea of CMS. However, I noticed that there are Hacks to add a portal page that looks just like the CMS page? Is that the same thing? If so, can I just do the regular version of VBulletin and add the portal page?

5. If I do buy the regular version of VBulletin and decide I want the Suite instead, can I just pay the difference and get that? Or do I have to pay the full price for another license of the Suite product?

I know these are a lot of questions and I appreciate anyone that reads them. I have attempted to find these answers for myself. I'm not sure though. I want to be 100% sure before I purchase something.

Thanks!

[kall]

1. Adding those will not invalidate your license.
2. As long as the basic database structure is the same, it won't cause any problems.
3. You may run a test instance, as long as it is htaccess password protected, and not open to the public.
4. No. It is not the same thing. There are no free modifications that mirror the vBCMS functionality. There are portals, but they are not the same thing.
5. Upgrading to Suite from Forum Only - $100.

:)

[mandy02]

Thank you for such a quick response! I think I know where I'll be asking my questions from now on. :)

So, I think I'll go with the regular version of VBulletin for now and possibly upgrade to the Suite at a later time. I still need to educate myself on what the CMS really does apparently.

[kall]

Thank you for such a quick response! I think I know where I'll be asking my questions from now on. :)

You're welcome. :)

You can also try http://www.vbulletin.com/forum/forumdisplay.php?f=47 (the official Pre-Sales forum at vBulletin.com).

[mandy02]

I thought of one more question.

How easy is it to upgrade VBulletin when you have hacks installed? I have found that with PHPBB3 that I have to get rid of the MODs, upgrade, then reinstall the MODs every time. It's a pain. Am I going to run into the same thing with VBulletin? Although I imagine it will still be easier because I'll be installing less MODs. But it's still something to consider.

[Blooded]

Upgrade vbulletin is very easy, you don't have to change anything just run the upgrade file and that's all, sometimes you don't even have to run an upgrade file just copy above the old files and that's it.

Sometime some mods don't work when you upgrade(to fix this is very easy too you just remove the hack and that's it) but this doesn't happens very often and when it does they release an upgrade version of that mod really quickly.

Vbulletin is 100 time more easy than phpbb, i tell you this couse i use phpbb smf and even ipb and the easiest forum to use is vbulletin.

[Marco van Herwaarden]

Some additional info:

1) If you require support and have modifications installed, then you might be prompted to restore the default vBulletin in order to receive support as you will not receive official support on modifications. This sounds more difficult then it is. Most modifications these days use the Plugin system, meaning that no file edits are required and they can be turned off by flipping a switch.

2) As already mentioned it should not be a huge issue unless base datastructures have been changed. You will need to keep in mind that custom data from your current phpBB modifications will most likely not transfer to vBulletin with the standard import script.

[mandy02]

Thanks for the information. I have things going already and can see the ease at which things are installed and removed. Coming from PHPBB 3.06 is a huge difference.