Well, I modified NTLDR's 'Latest Threads On Forum Home' hack to do it
In Index.php
// #################### PROCESS LATEST THREADS #######################
// fetch the permissions for each forum
$forumperms = array();
foreach($forumcache AS $forum) {
$forumperms["$forum[forumid]"] = fetch_permissions($forum['forumid']);
// ## HIDE FORUMS WITHOUT THE CANVIEW OR CANVIEWOTHERS PERMISSION ##
if (!($forumperms["$forum[forumid]"] & CANVIEW) || !($forumperms["$forum[forumid]"] & CANVIEWOTHERS)) {
$limitfids .= ','.$forum['forumid'];
}
}
unset($forum);
if ($vboptions['threadpreview'] > 0) {
$previewfield = ', post.pagetext AS preview';
$previewjoin = 'LEFT JOIN '.TABLE_PREFIX.'post AS post ON(post.postid = thread.firstpostid)';
}
$datecut2 = TIMENOW - (7*24*60*60);
$getthreads = $DB_site->query("
## GET LATEST THREADS ##
SELECT thread.*,thread.iconid AS threadiconid $previewfield
FROM ".TABLE_PREFIX."thread AS thread
LEFT JOIN ".TABLE_PREFIX."deletionlog AS deletionlog ON(thread.threadid = deletionlog.primaryid AND type = 'thread')
$previewjoin
WHERE thread.dateline > $datecut2
AND open = '1'
AND forumid NOT IN (0$limitfids)
AND thread.visible = '1'
AND deletionlog.primaryid IS NULL
ORDER BY replycount
DESC LIMIT 50");
while($thread = $DB_site->fetch_array($getthreads)) {
$threads = true;
$thread['title'] = fetch_censored_text(fetch_trimmed_title(unhtmlspec ialchars($thread['title']), 22));
$thread['date'] = vbdate($vboptions['dateformat'], $thread['lastpost'], 1);
$thread['time'] = vbdate($vboptions['timeformat'], $thread['lastpost']);
$thread['preview'] = preg_replace('#\[quote(=("|"|\'|).*\\2)?\](.*)\[/quote\]#siU', '', $thread['preview']);
$thread['preview'] = htmlspecialchars_uni(fetch_trimmed_title(strip_bbc ode(fetch_censored_text($thread['preview']), false, true), $vboptions['threadpreview']));
$thread['replycount'] = vb_number_format($thread['replycount']);
$thread['views'] = vb_number_format($thread['views']);
// thread icon
$show['icon'] = false;
$icon = fetch_iconinfo($thread['iconid']);
if (is_array($icon)) {
$show['icon'] = true;
$thread['threadiconpath'] = $icon['iconpath'];
$thread['threadicontitle'] = $icon['title'];
}
// show goto new post
$show['firstnew'] = false;
$bbforumview = fetch_bbarray_cookie('forum_view', $thread['forumid']);
if ($bbforumview > $bbuserinfo['lastvisit']) {
$lastread = $bbforumview;
} else {
$lastread = $bbuserinfo['lastvisit'];
}
if ($thread['lastpost'] > $lastread) {
$threadview = fetch_bbarray_cookie('thread_lastview', $thread['threadid']);
if ($thread['lastpost'] > $threadview) {
$show['firstnew'] = true;
$show['icon'] = false;
}
}
exec_switch_bg();
eval("\$dungeonbit2 .= \"".fetch_template('dungeonbit_2')."\";");
}
if ($threads) {
$show['latestthreads'] = true;
}
// memory saving
unset($thread, $threads);
$DB_site->free_result($getthreads);
Then made a template called 'dungeonbit_2'
<div class="smallfont">
<if condition="$show['firstnew']">
<a href="showthread.php?$session[sessionurl]threadid=$thread[threadid]&goto=newpost"><img src="$thread[threadiconpath]" alt="$thread[threadicontitle]" border="0" /></a>
</if>
<if condition="$show['icon'] && !$show['firstnew']">
<img src="$thread[threadiconpath]" border="0" alt="$thread[threadicontitle]" title="$thread[threadicontitle]" style="vertical-align: text-middle" />
</if>
<a href="showthread.php?$session[sessionurl]threadid=$thread[threadid]" title="$thread[preview]"><strong>$thread[title]</strong></a>
</if> <phrase 1="member.php?$session[sessionurl]find=lastposter&threadid=$thread[threadid]" 2="$thread[postusername]">$vbphrase[by_x]</phrase>
</div>
Then just plopped the $dungeonbit2 string on the FORUMHOME template where I wanted it.
Not to dig up an old thread, but what if you wanted to do both The Latest Threads, and Hot Threads?