VB3 to SMF, in 2023?! Grateful for a bit of help and moral support!

[MartyHunter]

Hi all. A very close friend of mine has run a forum for decades. He's old now but doens't want the forum to die just yet so I am hoping to help him. He pays out of pocket to run the forum (no monetisation) so he's not keen on my first idea of paying for Xenforo (only suggested as I heard they do manual imports). But it's pricey, and then I found SMF so I am wondering if it's possible (for me!) to convert his VB3.8.5 forum to SMF?

If so, how much tech stuff is involved? I have moved and built websites and forums, but I am NO developer. I have reluctantly dived into database files once, to fix an issue he had with the site a few years back. After a WEEK of looking through code (I barely could make sense of), I did eventually find the culprit, but I really don't want to be going through that again!

So... can a VB 3.8.5 forum be converted to SMF with relative ease?

Grateful for any thoughts. Thanks

[Diego Andrés]

You could setup a backup locally and test the converter for 3.7 and see if you have any issues with it.
You could also attempt to upgrade your current forum to v4.0 > convert to SMF 2.0.19 > upgrade to SMF 2.1.

Of course, make sure you backup your files and database.

[Sudhakar Arjunan]

Hi MartyHunter,

When I learnt using internet first I used phbb then after 2-3 years I have moved to smf as its too user friendly and been using it for 17 years now if am correct since 2005 I remember.

Had thought where I could move to VB as they handle large forums also xenforo once in 2012 by taking a paid version. But as you greatly said there converts are different and mostly happens manually.

So I have sticked to smf for 17 years now and highly recommended for large forums like mine.
229,317 Posts in 180,923 Topics by 42,033 Members
Online: 511 Guests, 1 User (0 Buddies, 1 Spider)  - Most Online Today: 521 -  Most Online Ever: 3,621 (17 March 2012)

As @Diego Andrés rightly said, please try a local copy of smf latest version here - https://download.simplemachines.org
Also try converters ( https://download.simplemachines.org/index.php?converters ) from vb to smf. Get community support on forum for any hiccups.

Feel happy okie, do try smf on live forum and be a golden member to support smf community.

[MartyHunter]

You could setup a backup locally and test the converter for 3.7 and see if you have any issues with it.
You could also attempt to upgrade your current forum to v4.0 > convert to SMF 2.0.19 > upgrade to SMF 2.1.

Of course, make sure you backup your files and database.

Thanks for replying. I don't think he can upgrade beyond VB3 without paying and he won't give them any more money!

[MartyHunter]

Bit confused by the suggestion to take a backup locally and try something.
I have a new hosting account I just ordered today, with the intention of moving the VB3 forum to it so i have a duplicate to test on, but then I realised how complex it is to move mysql databases and make them work! If anyone knows of any guides on how to move a VB3 forum to new hosting, that would help me a lot at this point as I could create a clone on a test server, and then try the SMF converter.

As a side question... Let's say I magically somehow manage to create a clone of the VB forum, then use SMF converter. How would I actually "test" that it worked or not? What would I do to prove it worked, just compare threads and stuff, see if anything missing, or is there a specific way to test functionality?

P.S. I just noticed there is a converter for VB 3.7 and 4.0, but not for 3.8. Anyone know which one is tested and working for 3.8 (if either are?)

Thanks

[MartyHunter]

Really grateful for an answer here, not sure which converter to use. I am running VBulletin 3.8.5. Should I go with Vbulletin3 converter, or 3.7?