Can't disable VBSEO without issues. Need to disable before upgrading to Vbulletin 4.1.3

Hi, I hope someone can help me with this issue.

First, here is what I'm running

VBSEO 3.0.0 RC8
VBulletin 3.6.5

In an attempt to run a duplicate of my board in a separate directory (test server) using a separate database (backed up and restored from the original board) I have copied all my VB files into the new directory and edited the config to point to the correct database and file locations.

When I try to view the board or access the ACP I get the following error

Fatal error: Corrupted encoded data detected in /xxx/xxx/xxx/testvb/vbseo.php on line 0

It is just one line on the web page, nothing else.

That is problem #1

What I was going to try and do was go to "Manage Products" on the original board and disable vBSEO before moving the files again and doing a fresh backup/restore of the database. When I disabled vBSEO I checked the board (the original board) and on all the Thread pages and Post pages all the icons and any graphics for the site all had broken links (graphic not showing). I can turn this on and off like a switch by enabling and disabling vBSEO

That was problem #2

I'm hesitant to uninstall vBSEO because if that does not work I'm in big trouble.

The goal is to upgrade to VB 4.1.3 and then upgrade to the latest vBSEO.

Any help would be greatly appreciated.

Thank you,

Brian

vbseo 3.0 series has met end of life and is no longer supported. Further, you are using an RC version of that out-of-date software, wich is even worse. You should upgrade to a modern version. If your plan is to go to vb4, you should disable vbseo and all other products and perform the upgrade, then install vbseo 3.6 onto vb4.

Hi Brian,

Thank you for your quick reply.

If your plan is to go to vb4, you should disable vbseo and all other products and perform the upgrade, then install vbseo 3.6 onto vb4.

Yes, that is my goal and also the problem. I want to perform the upgrade on a test server first in case there are any issues, however I am having issues just getting the board to function on the test server. That is were the error

Fatal error: Corrupted encoded data detected in /xxx/xxx/xxx/testvb/vbseo.php on line 0

is coming from.

When I try to disable vbseo on the original site it causes all the graphics to have broken links.

Unless there are other suggestions the only thing I can think of is to disable all plugins, backup and restore the database to the test server, copy all the VB files to the test server again and see if that works. Then I will have to re-enable all the plugins on the original board so it can continue to function until I am confident that I can make the switch to the new board.

Thank you for any other advice you can provide.

vbseo is no longer encoded and you will not have any of those issues on modern versions.

if you disable vbseo, you should also remove/edit the htaccess file.

Thank you Brian, I really appreciate your help.

This is what I am experiencing now.

When I just disable the vBSEO I lose images on the Thread and Post pages as mentioned before. When I also delete the .htaccess I get a Page Not Found error.

You mentioned editing the .htaccess file. Perhaps this will do the trick?

I see that there is a line

RewriteCond %{REQUEST_FILENAME} !\.(jpg|gif)$
RewriteRule ^(archive/.*)$ vbseo.php?vbseourl=$1 [L,QSA]

Would that be the reason why my images were not showing on the Thread and Post pages? if so, any suggestions as to how to edit it?

That rule says to 'skip' jpg/gifs from going there. All of this is not a part of the modern versions.

You should really just do the vb4 upgrade and install vbseo 3.6, and THEN deal with any issues you face, as everything you are dealing with now is basically just a waste of time that will get over-written.

Thank you. I'll give it a try.