I remember a private server hosted by Peegee, was not bad but with some issues :
PROS :
- he managed with his 'team' to modifiy/complete/set up some files & was able to update client & server
- some of chinees server missions were available & playable
- premium ships were available as remodel of regular ships
CONS :
- some bugs like the frustrating negative exp if you lose a battle with not enough attack
- most of texts in chinees (but wasn't a big issue for playing)
- some stuff missing like auto FCS (missing of auto FCS means very good practice for manual
), subs & new nations (at that time those nations didn't existed, so it's not a big deal)
I don't know if you will ever be able to get those files from Peegee because that guy seems to lost them I don't know how & managed to NEVER share them. Maybe same thing occured to EaCop, another guy who made a private running server & disapeared without leaving traces ...
Give us more news about your work progress & may the force be with you !