Ok... I finally got around to getting this done and all went well. I did the database backup from mysqladmin. MUCH easier!!
I modified all of the files and everything went smooth. I didn't blow up my board. I haven't tested it out yet by banning someone and seeing just what they can do from there... I'll be working on that later. But first, there is a glaring problem with my sendprivate.php .... as in, it's not there! Or rather when I try to send a PM, I get a blank page. This seems to be the same for everyone. I can still read the PM's that I have in my in and out boxes but can't get anything but a blank page when I try to send.
Anyone else have this problem and how do I fix it? I didn't realize that I had even done anything to that file with this mod?!?!
