A question for all experienced vB users !
 

Hello,

Its probably been a month since, i bought my first vB license.

I'd liek to know what exactly happens to all the hacks I have installed while upgrading to a newer version ??

Does it erase all the installed hacks completly or partially or does it affect in anyway at all after upgrading ??

If it does affect in anyway, is there a method to upgrade to later versions of vB without any possible damages to the hacks installed on my previous version of vB ??

Thanks much for your time.

Cheers

Hacks are file edits. Upgrading replaces all files. So, all hacks are gone, except for the changes that they made in templates and the database.

for upgrading hacked vbs, follow the link in my sig

Xenon, that link in your sig is dangerous for newbies. A newbie trying to do file compares and merges without understanding the code is going to hose his board.

Thank you Xenon for the link and others to the helpful tips.

Yes, I am a newbie with hacking the board...however, i can learn things quite fast...and hopefully, i can do the merging properly.

Thanks much again

Cheers

Here is the tip:

ALWAYS put a comment before and after your hack codes when hacking your files. For instance I always use:

// Logician Hack : My Hack Name
Hack code goes here
// Logician Hack : My Hack Name

for my own hacks and

// Hack : Hack Name
Hack code goes here
// Hack : Hack Name

for others' hacks I applied.

This way when I search with keywords "Hack" or "Logician Hack" I can easily access to all installed hacks in the code. It also helps alot when you play with comparing tools like Beyond Compare or Araxis Merge.

However I agree with amykhar: Someone who does not have any basic knowledge of PHP (at least its syntax) should not use such tools especially if he has too many hacks to move into new vb version. In unexprienced hands, they can be dangerous tools..

I don't agree - i upgraded my heavily hacked board with no knowledge of php at all... Took me about 3-4 hours while going back and repeating the stages and finding the problem and then noticing *I* had made the problem :)

- miSt

@Amy: of course they have to be careful, but if they don't try they couldn't get experienced ;)
my first upgrade wasn't the most perfect one, too ;)

uh you have 10 released vb hacks (one of which is a "major" hack according to your own word) and you claim to have no knowledge of PHP at all ha? :p something is wrong here lol

IMO somebody who has no knowledge of PHP is a guy who adds hack codes right after PHP comments (// lines) when told to "add before" or edits scripts via Dreamweaver or MS Word instead of a text editor or FTP scripts to server in binary mode. I believe using a tool like beyond compare is not something for such newbie people. I think they are much better off overwrite their scripts and reinstall existing hacks than play with tools they are not familiar with.

No no - before i had knowledge of PHP i upgraded my board ;)

- miSt

Heh, the last time i had tourble upgrading via beyound compare was way back in the days of ubb 5 ;).

I wouldent recomend it to newbies, but you have to learn somehow, and i always found that i figure out how to fix things better AFTER i break them ;)

Interesting suggestions here by Logician and others. Thanks much for helping us newbies, so that we can play a bit yet be safer not to do something totally wierdo and kill the board ! I know thats the last thing any owner of the vB would want to happen.

I have had beyond Compare for some time now, although used it rarely. I'll make sure to get used to that file compare application and learn to use it in a proper way.

Cheers

Also if you have the resources i'd reccomend araxis merge which i think can be found here:

www.araxis.com - it's more than worth the money and so easy to use :D!

Regards

- miSt

Mist :

I now have both Araxis ( downloaded around 12 hrs back ) and Beyond Compare on my system ... !

Thanks mucha gain.

Any more suggestions... kindly addon !

I actually prefer a clean start every time I upgrade. I make sure to click the install buttons here which gives me a list of all the hacks I have installed; so I don't forget the important ones when I upgrade.

But at upgrade time, I don't reinstall hacks that people didn't use a lot or hacks that I wasn't happy with for one reason or another.

I keep a list of priority hacks that have to go back in within the first hour after an upgrade and I start with those. Then, I typically wait a bit and make sure everything is running well and reinstall the members' favorites. I also usually add in one new hack right after upgrade to give the members something new to play with.

Amy

also a nice and good way amy, but it's hard to do it this way if you made slight modifications to files yourself without clarifying as a real hack ;)

@Amy ... I was thinking likewise.

I have installed only around 5 hacks now and yet to take my forums live, so i guess i'll upgrade to teh final now and reinstall the hacks... !

I have waited to final release 2.3.0, so that i can now work on installing major mods/hacks.luckily its out now.

Thanks much

Keep the suggestions coming.