well lets dissect this...
if the site shows up blank when using vbcredits, vbportal must be trying to run hooks from vbulletin.
if its running hooks from vbulletin, but not using global.php, then its integration must only be partial
if its partial, then its potentially dangerous, and they should just switch to using global.php, and everyone is happy
if i were to fix that one line, then i would be condoning and encouraging potentially dangerous partial integration with vbulletin, and by extension, vbcredits
i think with a hack starting with vb- it should be fully integrated. vbadvanced cmps has no issues doing it right. VB_AREA isnt that its in a "vb area" but that its in a vb-powered page. actual values set to VB_AREA include "forum" and "admin control panel", so "portal" could be acceptable... but simply not using it isnt.