I can totally feel where you're coming from. When I was a white belt I only used closed guard, and without it I was lost. As a blue belt, I started trying my butterfly guard. For a long time it sucked. I couldn't do anything, and I didn't feel comfortable maintaining guard. Eventually that started to change.
My advice: keep at it. Focus on defending/maintaining your butterfly guard for starters. It's kind of backwards in a way, which makes it hard. In closed guard, to prevent someone from passing to your right, you defend with your right leg. In butterfly you defend with your left. That takes some work to get used to. Focus on never getting flattened. Back on the mat = bad.
Once you get the hang of that, start focusing on your grips: both establishing your own and breaking those of your opponent. Then you can start attacking with sweeps. Start with the basics: sumi gaeshi (hook sweep?), arm drag, that sort of thing. And once you get that down, you can start getting fancy and chaining things together.
If you follow that advice, I think you are on your way to a strong butterfly guard.
Oh, one more thing. Learn how to pass it. This will help you learn how to defend the passes and learn what your opponent is doing to you. Also roll with guys who have a good butterfly guard. My instructor has an incredible butterfly guard gi and no gi, and I have learned immensely just by him sweeping me time and time again. If there is a higher belt that plays butterfly, roll with that person and pay attention!