header and footer include

[swellinfo]

Basic question about creating custom header and footer in 4.1

I just upgraded from 3.8 to 4.1.x

In the 3.8, the way i enclosed vbulletin in my website header/footer, was to require_once() a php file which had code for the header and footer as a plugin (hook location - parse templates. The header and footer was then made into 2 variables - $header and $footer, and i could use these vars in the header/footer template stylevars.

This doesn't seem to work in 4.1.x

Can someone please point me in the right direction. I have search, but could not find threads/articles about this basic task.

Thank you,