[q5sys]

pardon my noobishness regarding this issue. I’m learning this stuff for the first time.

Currently I have a WP site with a phpbb3 forum.
My goal is to end up with a WP site with Buddypress installed and bbpress installed under BP.

I”ve got a web developer that can convert my phpbb3 dbase over to a bbpress dbase, but that would be a for bbpress under WP.

Here is my question.
Do I: 1) install bbpress 2) have conversion done 3) Install BuddyPress 4) setup forum using existing bbpress option
OR
1) install bbpress 2) have conversion done 3) uninstall bbpress 4) Install BuddyPress 5) install bbpress plugin inside BP and then use existing bbpress option

The only threads I can find are relating to the way it had to be done way back. Is there still a difference between bbpress installed under WP and bbpress installed under BP?
I want to run bbpress under BP and use forums for groups.
But from all the old threads I’ve read, there were differences between bbpress under WP and bbpress under BP.
If thats the case, what do I need to do to convert a bbpress dbase so that I can use bbpress under BP?

[@mercime]

@q5sys
1. Install bbPress plugin (sitewide forums)
2. There is a phpbb3 converter Read https://bbpress.org/forums/topic-tag/phpbb3/
2. Have conversion done.
3. Double-check/test that conversion to bbPress is seamless
4. Install BuddyPress.
5. Read https://codex.buddypress.org/getting-started/installing-group-and-sitewide-forums/

Also know that Group Forums (custom bbPress 1.0) will be merged/switched over to bbPress plugin 2+ (sitewide forums) come BP 1.7 or so.

[q5sys]

@ mercime

Ok I followed your steps however there is one slight issue.
Steps #1-4 works fine. However Im unable to sync it with buddypress.

According to this thread: https://bbpress.org/forums/topic/buddypress-integration-where-is-bb-config-php-in-bbpress-v-2-0-2/

If that thread is right… I wont be able to because 2.x versions of bbpress dont use bb-config.php.
Of course there is no way to install a 1x series of bbpress in wordpress (or at least I couldnt figure out how its possible).

my bbpress works great, so… am I basically sol until the Buddypress people do the merging expected in v1.7?

EDIT: As explained, I have installed Buddypress but since I couldnt figure out how to integrate the existing bbpress install I turned off the forums option inside buddypress (I didnt want any conflicts). my BBpress forum still works fine.

After digging around for a while I noticed a few things.
1) If I open up a user profile in Buddypress I can see the topics the user created in the forum.
2) If I create a group it asks me if I want to create a forum for that group. In my phpbb3 forum I created forums for groups of people. After converting over to bbpress I have a forum for a ‘group of people’. When creating the group I did NOT create a forum for the group because I didnt want it to overwrite or mess up the existing forum in bbpress (the old forum and new group name are the same).
Without syncing buddypress and bbpress (as I explained above), is there anyway to link a group with an existing forum?
Ideally I want group forums, I just dont want to loose any posts already existing.