[fel64]

$bb_forums_loop; = $imakepoopy;

The first ; needs removing. Not sure if you’d get a parse error, but it certainly shouldn’t be there.

Let me also take this opportunity to complement your choice of $imakepoopy. Good to remember, unlikely to be used in bb core.

Try checking for global $bb; if( isset( $bb ) ) { ..., as $forum may not be set on every page but $bb must be.

> forum list only shows on the topic page, but for no others.

To display the forums bb needs to read them from the database and prepare the globals, which I think it only does on pages that it assumes will display them. Hence, check out /forums.php, /frontpage.php and others with a forum listing (files in root prepare for the theme file to actually show anything).