Here is the current plan:

The .lwo files would be replaced by .ldr or .dat (the LDraw version), the .lws files by a modified form of scene description language, as normal SDL already allows for animation, but not necessarily using another file as an object, and certainly not an LDraw file. The AI will be in a separate file written in Msdl as well, since SDL is an interpreted programming language in the sense that it has loops, functions, and decision structures. A few additions to the syntax to allow it to be a full language are all that would be needed, hence Msdl. There are many good reasons to reuse the .map and configuration files and replace the object files with .dat or .ldr. Firstly, they are already as simple as they will get for there function in terms in format (hex, text) so that is how they would have ended up anyways. Second the tools are already here and are rather robust. I don't think I have had a single crash with Map Creator and MLCAD only crashes after you fail to heed the warning that you are running out of resources (a lagfest) and if all else fails, Notepad and a hex editor will get the job done.

In other words: All that is really needed to make a mod is Notepad and a hex editor.