I'm glad everything worked out for you Sandy :)

what does everyone think about the idea to, instead of comparing your hacked files with the new default files, compare the old default files with the new default files. That way, you would actually just be making the same changes the devs made.
It's actually the same process, just the other way around..

yea, that way works too, and you'd just have to do the upgrade script and that's all... other than templates and phrases

MGM out

What would the purpose be of this ?

More to the point - what would be the difference between doing this (above) and overwriting your old defaults with the new defaults ?

The point of comparing your hacked files with the new vB retail files is that you get to see (if you know your forum) what changes you need to apply to benefit from the code upgrade without the need to re-hack!