Using vbulletin IF conditionals in a module

[helltonic]

Hello, I had a menu strip that shows different options to different usergroups.

For instance:

PHP Code:

<if condition="is_member_of($vbulletin->userinfo, 21, 13)">
    <li><a href="/forums/forumdisplay.php?f=7"><font color="gold">Forum 21</font></a></li>
    <li><a href="/forums/forumdisplay.php?f=8"><font color="lime">Forum 13</font></a></li>
</if> 


This was originally written in the Header area of Common Templates, which is in Style Manager.

Since I have two skins, I had to keep updating this menu strip in both skins whenever it needed to be changed. So i figured I could put the menu strip in a separate PHP file and create a Module (in the Plugins & Products System section). That way I would only have to edit it once.

So in the Header of each skin's Common Templates, I replaced the menu strip with the variable $hgNavStrip and then I created a module defining it:

PHP Code:

ob_start();
include('/home/mydomain/public_html/navstrip/navstrip.php');
$hgNavStrip = ob_get_contents();
ob_end_clean(); 


Well, the menu strip shows up, but all the vB conditionals are ignored. It's like it doesn't know the user's state anymore.

I think I am perhaps not using the right Hook Location or Execution Order. I am currently using a Hook Location of: global_start and an Execution Order of 5. Most of the other Hook Locations I have tried don't show the menu strip at all, but parse_template and init_startup also work, but similarly they ignore the vB conditionals.

If someone could please let me know how to resolve my issue I would be most appreciative.