1) I don't know about a mod, but FL Hack has an option to remove the level requirement for equipment and ships.

2) Try searching for "Trent the Monkey King" - it has an additional mission (haven't played it yet, though).

3) I'll yield that one, but I should at least mention Hostile Universe (8.3 is coming soon). Basically the same, but a little harder (smarter NPCs, with regenerative shields; more expensive ships; 8.3 will triple the money required to advance level during the story).

The launch cinematic seems to be integral to the launch sequence. All I could come up with just left you in the docking bay. Not good enough for FL Hack, but for those who want a look:

0x83EC04->0xC20800 in Freelancer.exe, 0x143D50, 0x143D50 = manually launch from the docking bay/ring

I haven't, but I shall...

Here's one that may be of interest:

1.85f in Freelancer.exe, 0x1C9020, 0x1C9020 = aspect ratio of the cinematics

I've added a "Full screen cinematics" option to FL Hack. (It doesn't modify that variable, but where it reads it, using the actual ratio of the resolution.)

There's no problem having both [Houses] and [Systems] entries, but if you define a systems line for both, the one that comes last will take effect. In your example, you should either remove the systems line from the [Houses] section (thus using the explicit "SOL SPACE" message in [Systems]) or remove the entire [Systems] section (thus using the "SOL" house with the normal message). In other words, you don't need a systems line for the [Houses] section if you just want to put a name on the map; the [Systems] section is intended more for individual systems, rather than those as part of a house. Hm, I'm not sure that's any clearer...

I only did it to demonstrate how I did it, which is what the OP wanted (at least, I think that's what he wanted).

I've made another change (that I won't bother uploading), which is to make both missiles show as available in the equipment list. Unexpectedly, it also made both available in the inventory, as well. (By available, I mean it shows as cyan rather than grey.) I'm thinking I could detect if you're in space and don't show it available there, so you can see which missile is active, but I hope to allow two launcher names (something like "Javelin (regular)" and "Javelin (EMP)"), so it wouldn't really be necessary. Another thing I forgot to consider was weapon groups. I guess depending on the key you use, it'll either toggle the ammo or the weapon.

I must've had temporary vision impairment, 'cos looking again, I see it is the same dump. Pretty dumb level of precision for a float.