vb4 - upgrade or totally new install?

[adusei]

Hi there,

I just purchased vB4. My question is, if I have to do a totally new install of the suite, or will it be possible to upgrade my current running 3.8.4 ?

Hm, and a second question: What will happen to my current style? Will all settings be lost and do I have to change the vB4 design according to my wishes? Or does vB4 take the style of my 3.8.4 while uprading?

TIA and best regards,

adusei

[Dismounted]

It will be possible to upgrade from vBulletin 3 to vBulletin 4 (both Publishing Suite and Forum Classic). However, the style will not work in vBulletin 4. vBulletin 4 introduces a CSS-based style and semantic HTML, in addition to some under-the-hood changes in the way of how conditionals and variables are handled.

[renep]

if I have to do a totally new install of the suite, or will it be possible to upgrade my current running 3.8.4 ?

That's in the FAQ.

What will happen to my current style?

That too.

[adusei]

It will be possible to upgrade from vBulletin 3 to vBulletin 4 (both Publishing Suite and Forum Classic). However, the style will not work in vBulletin 4. vBulletin 4 introduces a CSS-based style and semantic HTML, in addition to some under-the-hood changes in the way of how conditionals and variables are handled.

Thank you very much for your fast and helpful reply!

Best,

adusei

[adusei]

That's in the FAQ.



That too.

Hi there,

sorry - but where can I find that FAQ?

TIA and best,

adusei

[Dismounted]

sorry - but where can I find that FAQ?i

http://www.vbulletin.com/faq.php

[High Octane]

I understand we can upgrade from 3 to 4, but would it not be best to do a new install for those who have modded their forums?
Would all the database changes from all the mods possibly cause problems by leaving unused entries that could possibly cause conflict with the new software that has changed as much as VB4 has?

Since the 2 versions are so different and no one with a modded VB3 has done an upgrade to VB4, do we really know what the outcome will be?

I think I'm going to do a test install with a clean database before risking corrupting my current forums data.
But any thoughts would be appreciated.

[steven s]

I'm going to do a clean install. That is create a new directory for vB4 so I can clean out unused files that I have acquired over the years.
I will be using the same database because cleaning up unused tables will be a bit more difficult.

You can look at this mod
Quick Database Check

http://www.vbulletin.org/forum/showthread.php?t=101486

to see what tables are not needed.

I wish I could install a clean version of vB3.8.4p1 and import my current database into it before upgrading to vB4.

[High Octane]

I'm going to do a clean install. That is create a new directory for vB4 so I can clean out unused files that I have acquired over the years.
I will be using the same database because cleaning up unused tables will be a bit more difficult.
I wish I could install a clean version of vB3.8.4p1 and import my current database into it before upgrading to vB4.

Could you not use IMPEX to move existing forum data to your clean database?

[dtommy79]

I understand we can upgrade from 3 to 4, but would it not be best to do a new install for those who have modded their forums?
Would all the database changes from all the mods possibly cause problems by leaving unused entries that could possibly cause conflict with the new software that has changed as much as VB4 has?

Since the 2 versions are so different and no one with a modded VB3 has done an upgrade to VB4, do we really know what the outcome will be?

I think I'm going to do a test install with a clean database before risking corrupting my current forums data.
But any thoughts would be appreciated.

Wayne mentioned in a thread that the best if we remove all the mods and plugins before upgrading, because they might cause problems.

[steven s]

I brought this up before.

http://www.vbulletin.com/forum/showthread.php?310735

I'm still unclear what the best path is.

[High Octane]

Thanks

I brought this up before.

http://www.vbulletin.com/forum/showthread.php?310735

I'm still unclear what the best path is.

[Nick]

Could you not use IMPEX to move existing forum data to your clean database?

I think they always say that IMPEX isn't meant to be used between two vBulletin installations. I'm not 100% positive though.

[cellarius]

If you impex your board into a new installation, you'll loose all internal and external links to threads, posts, users etc. The respective ids will not be preserved, but they will be counted through anew, starting with 1. And since you surely deleted users, threads, posts along the way, the new ids won't match the old ones anymore.

[Dismounted]

I think they always say that IMPEX isn't meant to be used between two vBulletin installations. I'm not 100% positive though.

It's not recommended as an upgrade path. This is because all unique keys are recounted, and thus you break all existing links. ImpEx should be used to merge two boards together though.