<img src="http://www.ubbdev.com/uzine/images/reviews/mh/multihack.gif" style="border: 1px black solid" align="left">
Multihack 2.01
By: Allen Ayres



Haven't got time for the pain? Multihack ( click here ) written by developer extraordinaire Troy Jones is a must-have tool when it comes time to add that extra little something to your forum. Upgrading your forum to the latest version is much easier since you can add most of not all modifications back in just a few minutes.

Editor's Rating:

• Performance - 9
• Features - 9
• Usability - 10
• Design - 8
• Price - 11
• Support - 8

<img src="http://www.ubbdev.com/uzine/images/reviews/mh/analyze.gif" style="border: 1px black solid" align="right"> At A Glance:
Pros:

• analysis-mode allows you to check compatibility in seconds
• allows you to add modifications in seconds
• most mods have .mhk's ready-made
• good support among the developers
• much less time spent on support of mods for developers since installation errors are cut to virtually nil

Cons:

• a buglet or 2 remain when creating new mhk files
• support for non-pc platforms would be nice, but that would be a lot of work for a couple of machines
• I am waiting on .threads support

Overview:
MultiHack is a Windows based application that is designed to make the creation and installation of message forum hack software much easier for both parties. For the hack author it means less chance for errors on the end users part, thus less support issues for you to deal with and more time to do what you like, creating hacks. For the hack user, it means the same thing. Less problems installing hacks and gives the hack authors some room to breathe.
A full list of features can be found here .

Review:

If you are like me, you are always sitting behind a computer screen, tinkering here and there, always trying to improve your site/forum. When a new version of software comes out, you can use Beyond Compare to upgrade, but that's only for relatively minor upgrades. When making a rather large jump in software versions, you'll need something better - that something is Multihack.

In just a few minutes, I can upgrade my forum software to the latest version and add my favorite modifications in a few clicks more. What's more, since I know at a glance that the forum software and the modification are compatible, no time is wasted with installation errors on incompatible versions. If they turn out incompatible, I can edit the exact place the modification is stinking myself, or let the developer know and it is fixed for everyone.

As a developer, I spend much less time supporting modifications, since most support deals with installation errors. Multihack makes that occurrence very rare now.

go on to page 2 for the how to >>

How To:







Grab your copy of multihack from www.multihack.com , install, and fire it up.

First thing you do is set your paths for your local copy of your forum files. Click on "File >> Options":

<a href="http://ubbdev.com/uzine/images/reviews/mh/options_large.gif"><img src="http://www.ubbdev.com/uzine/images/reviews/mh/options_small.gif" style="border: 1px black solid" align="right"></a>

Set the paths for your local copy of ubb.classic and where you want the modified files to be output to. It is highly recommended that you choose a separate folder to output the modified files to so you have a working backup should something go wrong. If an error occurs, you can just upload the files that were unchanged.









<a href="http://ubbdev.com/uzine/images/reviews/mh/list_large.gif"><img src="http://www.ubbdev.com/uzine/images/reviews/mh/list_small.gif" style="border: 1px black solid" align="right"></a>
Click on "save changes" then download the multihack file(s) for the modifications you want to install from here: http://www.ubbdev.com/db/ultimatebb.php?ubb=forum;f=22 There are more available within the regular forums, these have been tested on the versions they are listed under tho. Once you have them downloaded, click on "import" from within multihack and import it into your program. Your program should then look something like this:









<a href="http://ubbdev.com/uzine/images/reviews/mh/analyze_large.gif"><img src="http://www.ubbdev.com/uzine/images/reviews/mh/analyze_small.gif" style="border: 1px black solid" align="right"></a>
Click on "Analyze". The program will analyze the modification and your files, checking for compatibility (what the software says should be there and what's actually there). Your program should then look something like this:









<a href="http://ubbdev.com/uzine/images/reviews/mh/install_large.gif"><img src="http://www.ubbdev.com/uzine/images/reviews/mh/install_small.gif" style="border: 1px black solid" align="right"></a>
Once you've seen that the modification should work with your version, click on "Install". The program will edit your files automagically and spit out the edited files plus any new files that come with the modification (if any are needed). Your program should then look something like this:







Upload the changed files to your forum and clear cache. Inspect your forum to make sure no errors are occurring. If you get errors, re-upload the unchanged backup files you have and report the error in the modification's discussion thread. With a little experience, you can do the most complex modifications in minutes.