Interesting, I've been looking for a project to take on for a while now, im pretty good at reversing communication protocols and so on. I could potentially emulate the server and write a miniserver type of setup. Talking massive time investment obviously, but what advantages would such a local host private single person server provide people with? You reckon regions are created on the server - but what then about the resources/water table files that come in 256x256,128x128 etc files that are obviously client side?
I'd love to join the modding community because I really love the game, but I feel that it can be much better if I had more control. What type of control would the server have then? Players wouldnt have syncing issues to start off with. At first glance the protocol doesnt look too complicated.
Some stuff i'd have to collect and send to clients as blobs of recorded data before deciphering their purpose, but emulating the server(s) is entirely possible in my opinion, its just a matter of time im willing to invest versus the advantage people stand to gain.
Thank for the replies, both of you!