vb...which version to use?

[Zanthadar]

I purchased a license of vb last night, agravated over the lack of support and professionalism of some other forum programs. I hadn't planned on doing it, but I've been an admin on a vb forum before and I have to say that it had everything I wanted (and needed).

Regardless, I went and installed a fresh version of vb 3 gamma, but there were some errors and I was hoping to get some sort of portal system up asap (which I haven't been able to find one that supports the new version)...so I downgraded back to 2.3.3 and imported all of my old phpbb users and posts.

One thing I was a little disappointed was the lack of free stuff available for vb..lol, I've been in the free world too long. Time to step up. I'm a graphic designer so I'm not going to dish out cash for something I can do myself.

My questions:

1) Should I even bother creating a style for 2.3.3 if I'm just going to have to upgrade and tweak it to work with the new board that I'll be upgrading to once some of the bugs are worked out. How difficult would it really be to do such a thing

2) How exactly do I go about upgrading back up to gamma 3? I looked but I couldn't find a 2.x ---> gamma 3 upgrade, only the full installation. I was unable to import my old posts from a fresh version of gamma 3, but I was able to do it with the older vb.

3) Where can I find a style making tutorial? I looked but I was unable to find any help on that subject. I've had quite a lot of experiened working with phpbb, e107, and invision....but vb seems to be done a little differently than I'm used to.

Thanks for the help!

Zan

[Slave]

One thing I was a little disappointed was the lack of free stuff available for vb..lol, I've been in the free world too long. Time to step up. I'm a graphic designer so I'm not going to dish out cash for something I can do myself.

There's lots of free stuff for vB .. www.vbulletin.org is the place to go for hacks and mods for vB .. and www.vbulletintemplates.com is the best place for template changes ..

1) Should I even bother creating a style for 2.3.3 if I'm just going to have to upgrade and tweak it to work with the new board that I'll be upgrading to once some of the bugs are worked out. How difficult would it really be to do such a thing

Personally .. I would say just use Gamma as the style is just about as it's going to be so if you make a style of your own it will work with the final version .. As I understand it 2.3.3 styles will not work with vB3 ..

2) How exactly do I go about upgrading back up to gamma 3? I looked but I couldn't find a 2.x ---> gamma 3 upgrade, only the full installation. I was unable to import my old posts from a fresh version of gamma 3, but I was able to do it with the older vb.

The Gamma install is the upgrade as well .. once you've uploaded all the Gamma files point your browser to yourforums.com/install/upgrade.php and it will work it out for you ..

[Dolby]

I was hoping to get some sort of portal system up asap (which I haven't been able to find one that supports the new version)...

Right now there are 2 small portals that work with gamma. There is one at http://www.coreforums.net and another one in the scripts area of www.vbulletin.nl . I think vbportal.com will have something after RC1 of vB3 and from what I hear its pritty nice. Also comeing soon is cpublisher from TECK over at vb.org.

Hope that helps some.

[Zanthadar]

Great, thank you guys I've now completely updated to gamma 3 with no problems whatsoever. I wasn't actually aware I could just upgrade like that. I'm kinda new to this whole thing, but catching on quick.

I'm now well under way to changing the look of my site, I actually really like the style manager, very easy to work with.

Going to take a look at those portal systems right now...

Plus I'm just happy that I can ask a question and not wait a week before I even get one. Community involvement is one of the key reasons I upgraded to vb in the first place. Its much appreciated

[Brandon]

Welcome to vB! this forum (well...the forum in general, not just General Chat ) is a great place for help...

[Joe Gronlund]

Not much point in installing 2.x.x, when RC1 is around the corner.

I would definately go with gamma, as for Portal systems, i believe vbulletin.org is expecting to release a beta when vB 3 RC1 is out.

For details on that you would have to check there