Upgrading from vB 3.8.9 Questions

[Kestryll]

I have a large vBulletin 3.8.x forum (Threads: 1,366,377, Posts: 20,663,439, Members: 302,724) and I'm starting to have server issues.

I'm looking at upgrading the software and I'm thinking of going to vB5 however i have a few concerns.

I have a LOT of custom forums, some set up to be invisible to everyone but a specific usergroup and password protected.
I've got several unique usergroups with their own permissions.
I've also got a two tiered paid member usergroup, one annual and one lifetime.

Will these convert over to vB5 as the same things?
Are there any of the standard vB 3.8.9 options that do not carry over to vB5?

[BirdOPrey5]

Password protected forums are not available in VB5. The thinking is usergroup permissions are far more secure st protecting access than a password that can be passed around.

Also note hybrid and threaded thread viewing are gone, only linear like what you see here, remains. Calendar events also will not transfer during an upgrade. Smilies must be served out of the main smilie directory to work, in VB3 any valid URL worked, (Same for post icons and rank images.)

Minor thing but the postbit style you use on your forum (horizontal) isn't available in VB5, only the "legacy" AKA vertical postbit style is available, like what you see here.

While we always suggest verifying your forum permissions after an upgrade I doubt those would be a problem, permissions usually upgrade without issue.

What may be a problem is your forum's sheer size. 20 million posts (and hundreds of forums/sub-forums) would make it the largest VB5 forum by far I can recall. VB5 uses more resources than VB 3.x and while your forum is currently giving near instant page loads I doubt very much that same type of performance will be possible with VB5. Obviously someone with a 20 million post forum wouldn't upgrade on a whim but just in case you absolutely need to do a test upgrade before upgrading the live site.

[whitetigergrowl]

I have a large vBulletin 3.8.x forum (Threads: 1,366,377, Posts: 20,663,439, Members: 302,724) and I'm starting to have server issues.

I'm looking at upgrading the software and I'm thinking of going to vB5 however i have a few concerns.

I have a LOT of custom forums, some set up to be invisible to everyone but a specific usergroup and password protected.
I've got several unique usergroups with their own permissions.
I've also got a two tiered paid member usergroup, one annual and one lifetime.

Will these convert over to vB5 as the same things?
Are there any of the standard vB 3.8.9 options that do not carry over to vB5?

Long story short you're stuck. Upward movement without a good financial investment is unlikely.

Plug-ins, let alone updated ones from the VB 3 days, in most cases likely do not exist for VB 5. Visit Vbulletin.org. You'll see. Barely 100 VB 5 mods. Almost 1,500 VB 3 mods. VB 5 has been around for years and mod support for it is very low compared to previous versions.

So you may not find what you're looking for if you want to expand the capabilities of your forum or update any existing mods.

VB5 amongst many is the least popular version of VBulletin for multiple reasons and many forums still use VB 3 and 4 and refuse to upgrade to VB 5. Many also have flat our converted away from VB. And VB 4 doesn't get really any support anymore from Internet Brands. And there are no current plans for VB 6.

So long story short, you're essentially stuck unless you want to take a financial and possibly even forum hit by upgrading to VB 5. And if you decide to move to a different forum software, again their may be some concessions you have to make and still have a financial investment.

VB 5 has improved over the years.

And I keep coming back from time to time to test it.

There are still a lot of old VBulletin forums out there. But that number is slowly fading.

I'm not going to say VB 5 is all bad. There have been some improvements over the years. But it no longer is the forum leader it used to be amongst forum owners and upgrading may not be a suitable option for you.

You may just be stuck. :/