vB4 Upgrade Advice Please

[Biggles]

Hi All

I have been stubbornly avoiding upgrading my site from vB3.8.5 to vB4x for several reasons (or excuses perhaps).

Having finally taken the plunge and purchased the vB4Suite upgrade, I need some advice on how best to go about the changeover. My site is quite heavily modded. It has the old vB Blog running on it but also a number of mods downloaded from here, such as Albums, MP3 Player (XEON), a video player, and a few others. I also disabled the registration system and went for individual enrolment upon application - not a great idea once the applications started rolling in.

I am rather wary because I really don't want to upset my members, especially those who have contributed to site content.

In short, I wonder whether I am best to simply upgrade as usual and see what happens to the content and then try to fix any snags OR should I perhaps try to create a new site for testing before switching over. The main issue is that I don't want to lose present content during the switch to vB4Suite. I don't know much about coding so would be very grateful for some advice from the experts here.

Regards

Biggles

[Sarteck]

Definitely DEFINITELY create a new site.

Back up all of your data, and then make a "test site" with the backup, upgrade that backup to vB4, and then use your Admin Control Panel (or other means) to disable ti site for everyone but you (and your Admins, if you have any others).

You will likely not "lose" any content--it will all still be there--but since your site is quite heavily modded, you will want to find replacements for all of your Mods before you go live.

You will also want to find replacements for any Styles you have, as vB3 styles will generally not work on vB4 without heavy modification (it's much easy just to find a similar-looking style made for vB4 and use it).

Once your "backup" site is up and running properly, and tested out as thouroughly as possible, plan for a day or more of downtime. Close your still-running main site, upgrade it, then apply all the modifications you made in the backup site to the new site.

From experience, I can tell you that a straight upgrade and then trying to work out problems as you go will definitely piss off your users, AND it'll piss YOU off, too.