I am not familiar with software and understand you are reticent about opening up your code. But I had an odd idea. would it be possible to contract out a conversion from VB6 to a more modern language that you are familiar with, (bugs and all) (except hyperdrive needs to work 
) and thereby maintaining control of the code. I wouldn't begin to know how difficult it would be or how much it would cost, maybe a kickstarter project? Just a thought.
I know C#, C++ and I have been learning Java lately as well. In fact, 20+ years ago my day job was C++ programmer (on Windows 3.1
). The problem is that Aurora is huge in terms of the code base and rewriting in C# would take a LOT of effort. The upside would be nicer graphics and faster execution. The downsides would be that I would have to maintain enthusiasm for that effort, and I know from experience that staying enthusiastic while replicating something I already have is very difficult, plus I would be missing out on playing and updating the current version. Once you take into account that graphics have never been the reason why anyone (including me) plays Aurora then it comes down to speed.
If you look at the potential speed increase vs. the total amount of time it would take programming to achieve that speed increase, then in the long-term I would play a lot more Aurora if I stuck with the current version
