Played cdda years ago but could never figure it out and wasn't able to get much done, my instance on not using a tileset and just going with the askii graphics because "that's how it's supposed to look" likely didn't help. Been wanting to give it another shot for a while but never got around to it.

Have you tried the bright nights fork? Never played it personally but remembered it existed while writing this and took a look at it, and it seems like what you are looking for. If you have tried it, how is it?