How the heck would I do this?

[Sinzar]

I would like to do some integration with the main page on my web site, but I've had a hard time using other people's scripts. It seems to be an error with global.php all the time, anyway allow me to explain.

I would like to turn the right-hand menu of my site into a forums implementation. If the user is a guest, it would simply display the following:

+Users Online (Numbers + Who's Online)
+Login Form
+Please register message

If they are logged in, it would display something like this:

+Users Online (Numbers + Who's Online)
+Welcome, $username
+You have XX new private messages
+XX new posts since your last visit

You probably get the general idea by now. Basically, I would like to take the welcome panel at the top of vbulletin and add it to my site, well here's the problem.

I do know how to program PHP/MYSQL, but I'm unfamilar with vBulletin. Secdonly, global.php restricts access from outside the /forums folder, I would need global to be accessed from the root directory and by one level up.

I've seen one script to allow this, I've also seen vb home editions doing stuff similar. If someone could simply redirect me in the right path to get on the course of doing this, that would be terrific. I'm looking for the features of Vbhomelite, except without using the entire scripts to alter my database. I just simply want to allow sessions on my main page along with the things I mentioned above.