Can only create site (from custom defintion) when in central admin

Question

As title says. I've created the bare basics of a custom site definition (no features etc.).

It, at least appears, to deploy and activate fine judging by VS 2010 output.

If in central admin, I can see this available custom site definition (and many more) in the site actions > new site dialog if I open this dialog from central admin - but not if I'm actually on my site (publishing site).

Why have I lost visibility of many of the site templates both OOTB and my custom site definition?

Also - this doesn't matter so much if it's only a case of the site definition not being visible - because I ultimately want to create a site from this site definition programmatically so as long as I can still do this it's not a problem.

Answer 1

I can't find it but I found this that I will quote for you because the page is a mess:

I found the answer. To make additional site Definitions or Site Templates available in a site based on the Publishing Portal you need to go to Site Actions > Site Settings > Modify All Site Settings. On the Site Settings page click the Page Layouts and Site Templates link under the Look and Feel column. In the Site Templates section of the page that appears you will see a list box to the left that contains all the Site Definitions and Site Templates available in the installation. In the list box on the right you will see a list box containing just Publishing Site with Workflow, which is the only site definition currently available. Find your new site definition in the box on the left, highlight it and press the Add> button to move it to the box on the right. Click OK and the next time you create a sub site your new site definition should be available. [source]

It was a powershell script that did something under the site to the site definitions and it listed it as a bug that happened when you activated something, but I don't remember how or what, hopefully just trying to reactivate them will help.