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If you prefer to build XOOPS locally, just install XOOPS and set whatever paths you need to get it working. When the site is finished, dump the DB to a SQL file with PHPMyAdmin.
Dump your old site DB too and download that SQL file with the files and folders (in case you need to re-use them). Then upload the new files and folders, set the folder permissions and re-set the paths in the config.
Finally, empty the old DB and re-populate it from the new SQL. I would recommend you use BIGDUMP for this, which enables you to upload the SQL file via FTP and populate the DB online.
The only problem is that some modules (not all) store absolute paths in the database. I recently saw a cool SQL script that would correct this automatically. I'll try to locate it.
You'll find info on BIGDUMP here somewhere, or in the FAQ, if you do a search.
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