Heavily modded board

[bashy]

Hi folks

I have a heavily modded board from what i have read the mods will not work, damn shame but there you go. Anyway, I have mods installed from like 3 years + ago and i have tried removing mods before and it just broke the forum so i have just left them, many are turned off but the problems come when uninstalling and the database....

How can keep all the original vb stuff and dump all 3rd party additions without breaking my forum please?

Just to give you an idea,

There are 402 database tables that are not a part of out-of-the-box vBulletin
and there are 235 fields that are in the vBulletin tables but not a part of out-of-the-box vBulletin

I would love to be able to extract all the original VB stuff such as threads, posts, members and so out without keeping the additional tables thats within those, is it wishful thinking or have i got no hope at all?

I would like to be able to do this before i install vb4.0

[dodgeboard.com]

This has been asked about so many times. Now, with vBulletin 4.0 coming out, we already are told none of the mods will work, and many admins are presented with this question, "How do I go back to basics?"

There are lengthy instructions on returning to the basic package, and I did a little experimenting with this over the weekend and got it to work but it took repeated attempts and a couple of bumps along the way.

It would seem to me that with all the folks wanting to do this to upgrade to vB4, the vBulletin staff would/should create a script that could do this for us....a "Return to basics" script, so to speak. The script would basically just dump the standard vB tables and fields to a fresh database in preparation for the upgrade to vB4?

Why don't the do this? I really don't know.

[bashy]

I suppose thats really what i was asking about a, "Return to basics script" why i struggled to ask such a simple question is beyond me well put, thank you.

I think this would be a must have, more so that VB has basically null and voided our existing board setups
I dare say theres not many boards out there that are running a 100% out of the box board?

[Lynne]

Um.... WOW! I was gonna say that many of us have heavily modified boards, but mine is nothing compared to yours (I only have about 10-15 added tables for my tracker... maybe... if even). I can tell you right now that if you have changes to your attachment tables, or any of your mods deal with the attachment table, you are going to want to pare it down as much as possible. Attachments are done a bit differently now and the tables are kinda rearranged and changed (nothing major, but I had to do some queries after the upgrade to put my tracker info back where I want it). I would seriously try to uninstall any mods you don't need before you do the upgrade. Don't forget that when you uninstall a mod, you also need to remove any files you uploaded for it. Some users forget to remove files in the includes/xml directory, for instance, and end up with database errors.

You may want to look into Impex. It can save just your posts/userinfo/vbstuff without all the extra. Perhaps, on a test site, try taking your database and importing it to a new database via impex and then perform a test upgrade on that and see if that does what you want.

[bashy]

Hi Lynne, i did download the impex so i suppose i best have a play and see what i can break, oh boy, i aint looking forward to this as i aint got a clue as to what files belong to what and i bet some of the mods have been removed for vb.org for 1 reason or another so i am hoping that the impex works i know the other way will fail miserably lol.... thanks for the advice and wish me luck, im gonna need it

[Pope Viper]

I've done file cleanup by using the Admincp\Maintenance\Diagnostics\Suspect File Versions.

That really helped me a lot.

[dodgeboard.com]

Hi Lynne, i did download the impex so i suppose i best have a play and see what i can break, oh boy, i aint looking forward to this as i aint got a clue as to what files belong to what and i bet some of the mods have been removed for vb.org for 1 reason or another so i am hoping that the impex works i know the other way will fail miserably lol.... thanks for the advice and wish me luck, im gonna need it

This is what I mean..
If someone could build on calories mod, which identifies non-original database fields/tables then a simple script to dump the database to a test database, mark and then drop the non-vb tables/fields from the test database, this would accomplish what is needed.

Then all we'd have to do is upload the original files, point the config.php to the new database and wallah! Back to basics.

[bashy]

I've done file cleanup by using the Admincp\Maintenance\Diagnostics\Suspect File Versions.

That really helped me a lot.

Thanks, thats just made a load of work now, i found 1061 suspect file versions pmsl......

[Lynne]

Thanks, thats just made a load of work now, i found 1061 suspect file versions pmsl......

Oh my.......

[Biker]

I had a similar issue not too long ago. Jake replied with the steps needed to take to get your forum back to "normal".

http://www.vbulletin.com/forum/showthread.php?301098-Synchronizing-SQL-database-with-fresh-software-install&p=1700729

Unfortunately, when it comes to the database, you're pretty much going to have to go through and massage it by hand. Exporting to a new DB can do terrible things to your data and should only be used as a last resort.

[bashy]

You know what its like, you get a nice new VB forum and want to try near on every great sounding mod thats published, ignoring all that folks say, about having so many mods installed, i think i stopped installing them about 2 years in

[Mark.B]

Hi folks

I have a heavily modded board from what i have read the mods will not work, damn shame but there you go. Anyway, I have mods installed from like 3 years + ago and i have tried removing mods before and it just broke the forum so i have just left them, many are turned off but the problems come when uninstalling and the database....

How can keep all the original vb stuff and dump all 3rd party additions without breaking my forum please?

Just to give you an idea,

There are 402 database tables that are not a part of out-of-the-box vBulletin
and there are 235 fields that are in the vBulletin tables but not a part of out-of-the-box vBulletin

I would love to be able to extract all the original VB stuff such as threads, posts, members and so out without keeping the additional tables thats within those, is it wishful thinking or have i got no hope at all?

I would like to be able to do this before i install vb4.0

402 non-vB database tables?????

[bashy]

What, ya think i could have added more? not a very well rounded number is it? lol

I do have MKPortal installed and that does add a good few tables but as thats now obsolete it will need to go

[bashy]

Is there a setting/s in Impex where you can choose to only import OTB tables?

[hitmancode47]

we already are told none of the mods will work

Whoa! vB.org will have a field day with that!