i have searched high and low and not found it so just had a random stab in the dark and managed to get it working here is my navbar template.
PHP Code:
<!-- start header part -->
<a name="top"></a>
<table width="100%" border="0" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="0">
<tr>
<td class="topwrap"> </td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td class="headerwrap"><table width="100%" border="0" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="0">
<tr>
<td valign="middle" class="headerbgL"><div align="center"><a href="$vboptions[forumhome].php$session[sessionurl_q]"><img src="images/cars/cars_logo.gif" alt="$vboptions[bbtitle]" name="cars_logo" width="143" height="37" border="0" id="cars_logo" /></a></div></td>
<td class="headerbg"> </td>
<td> </td>
</tr>
</table></td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td class="navwrap">
<!-- nav buttons bar -->
<table id="navstyle" cellpadding="$stylevar[cellpadding]" cellspacing="0" border="0" width="100%" align="center" style="border-top-width:0px">
<tr align="center">
<if condition="$show['member']">
<td><a href="usercp.php$session[sessionurl_q]">$vbphrase[user_cp]</a></td>
</if>
<if condition="$show['registerbutton']">
<td><a href="register.php$session[sessionurl_q]" rel="nofollow">$vbphrase[register]</a></td>
</if>
$template_hook[navbar_buttons_left]
<td><a href="faq.php$session[sessionurl_q]" accesskey="5">$vbphrase[faq]</a></td>
<td id="vbimghost" class="vbmenu_control"><a href="#vbimghost" >$vbphrase[vbimghost_title]</a>
<script type="text/javascript"> vbmenu_register("vbimghost");</script></td>
<td><a href="memberlist.php$session[sessionurl_q]">$vbphrase[members_list]</a></td>
<td><a href="calendar.php$session[sessionurl_q]">$vbphrase[calendar]</a></td>
<if condition="$show['popups']">
<if condition="$show['searchbuttons']">
<if condition="$show['member']">
<td><a href="search.php?$session[sessionurl]do=getnew" accesskey="2">$vbphrase[new_posts_nav]</a></td>
<else />
<td><a href="search.php?$session[sessionurl]do=getdaily" accesskey="2">$vbphrase[todays_posts]</a></td>
</if>
<td id="navbar_search" ><a href="search.php$session[sessionurl_q]" accesskey="4" rel="nofollow">$vbphrase[search]</a> <if condition="$show['quicksearch']"><script type="text/javascript"> vbmenu_register("navbar_search"); </script></if></td>
</if>
<if condition="$show['member']">
<td id="usercptools" ><a href="$show[nojs_link]#usercptools">$vbphrase[quick_links]</a> <script type="text/javascript"> vbmenu_register("usercptools"); </script></td>
</if>
<else />
<if condition="$show['searchbuttons']">
<td><a href="search.php$session[sessionurl_q]" accesskey="4">$vbphrase[search]</a></td>
<if condition="$show['member']">
<td><a href="search.php?$session[sessionurl]do=getnew" accesskey="2">$vbphrase[new_posts_nav]</a></td>
<else />
<td><a href="search.php?$session[sessionurl]do=getdaily" accesskey="2">$vbphrase[todays_posts]</a></td>
</if>
</if>
<td><a href="forumdisplay.php?$session[sessionurl]do=markread" rel="nofollow">$vbphrase[mark_forums_read]</a></td>
<if condition="$show['member']">
<td><a href="#" onclick="window.open('misc.php?$session[sessionurl]do=buddylist&focus=1','buddylist','statusbar=no,menubar=no,toolbar=no,scrollbars=yes,resizable=yes,width=250,height=300'); return false;">$vbphrase[open_buddy_list]</a></td>
</if>
</if>
$template_hook[navbar_buttons_right]
<if condition="$show['member']">
<td><a href="login.php?$session[sessionurl]do=logout&logouthash=$bbuserinfo[logouthash]" onclick="return log_out('$vbphrase[sure_you_want_to_log_out]')">$vbphrase[log_out]</a></td>
</if>
</tr>
</table>
<!-- / nav buttons bar -->
</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>
<!-- /end header part-->
<!-- content table -->
$spacer_open
$_phpinclude_output