as i say, it was a particular file in the /includes directory causing the hassle. i have replaced it with the older working version of the file and will read through the file later to try and patch them together to make a working version of the new file.
as for phpBB being ugly, any ideas for porting it to some other type of board? i am very open to the idea of using a perl board with no database behind it for instance, or anything you care to recommend really but my stipulations are that it must be able to port the existing posts and existing users from my phpBB onto the new board. It should be totally transparent.
I know phpBB provides some tools for porting from other boards to phpBB2, but does anybody else do tools to change from phpBB2 to themselves?