Maybe you could give the option to upscale all boxes with pixel font pieces globally. If the dialoges are too small, the rest probably is as well. I guess monitors evolved since 2002.
When zooming out on the overworld, there is sooooo much unused space there across all security levels... maybe you could put the modded maps over there.
Upload limits might be a good option for "hard mode". Hard mode could be as well to play through the game without being able to replay beaten levels to grind for credits. Stuff is quite costly here and having to decide for what to buy makes it quite hard to beat.