My next step I guess is to manually remove plugins 1 by 1 to see if this fixes the issue.
How to manually uninstall plugins if I can't access their controls via 'plugins' in ACP?
Can I just delete their PHP? How else to fix this?
You can just delete the files you uploaded through your ftp.
But won't that leave it's hooks/ settings / changes SOMEWHERE inside MyBB?
(2014-04-10, 04:11 AM)DrXotick Wrote: [ -> ]But won't that leave it's hooks/ settings / changes SOMEWHERE inside MyBB?
Yes it will.
I know you've already solved your issue, but for the benefit of anyone reading this that doesn't know:
deleting a plugin file while the plugin is currently installed is a horrible idea.
If you want to remove a plugin but you can't access ACP, then you need to fix the problems with ACP first and then remove the plugin.
But what if not being able to access ACP Plugin Controls is due to an installed plugin? Or would that never be a scenario...
Well, there is no 'tutorial' for manual removal that applies to all plugins. You need to know PHP to do it yourself. But there are general guidelines:
1. Always install plugins one by one (this includes uploading files to server as one may be corrupt) to be sure which plugin you need to remove. It may be slow in some cases, but you might save time used for solving a problem this way. If you don't, there may be an error which indicates the faulty name.
2. If you find the culprit, look at it's deactivate() and uninstall() functions inside PHP files. Most likely they're in inc/plugins/[plugin_name].php but they may be in any other file which belongs to the plugin. These functions may also call other ones. If they do, you need to find the other functions too.
3. Now the hardest part which requires PHP and MySQL knowledge. Do everything that's stated inside these functions. It may vary - remove/modify/add field, column, table or anything else in database (phpMyAdmin), change code in templates, rebuild settings, etc.
So.. I don't think I would recommend you manual deinstallations. Fixing the problem is much easier if you ask here and provide all details.