Audemus' Happy Ending Mod (AHEM)
Ad Astra Per Aspera

AHEM is a rework of the ending to LE3, and a spiritual successor to the Happy Ending Mod. The primary focus of the mod is to allow Commander Shepard to survive the final mission, as well as provide satisfying closure to this incredible trilogy through tweaked cutscenes, edited videos, new ending slides, and an overhauled memorial scene.

For those familiar with existing ending mods, this mod is most similar to Version B of JohnP's Alternate MEHEM.


What Does AHEM Do?

1. The Crucible is no longer space-magic.


2. The Starchild/Catalyst is no longer present in the ending - but you can still get a dark ending if your EMS is low.


3. The Crucible docking scene is now more exciting and tense.


4. The Citadel & Mass Relays are no longer damaged/destroyed.


5. An expanded epilogue sequence.


6. Commander Shepard survives.


7. Built with Citadel Epilogue Mod in mind.


The mod also contains two options that replace the end credits music:

• Reignite by Malukah
• Hans Zimmer-inspired Track by Nicholas Powell

F.A.Q:

Can I install this mod mid-playthrough?

Yes. You can install it at any point prior to the Illusive Man confrontation. However, the two new codex entries are set up to unlock at certain points in the game. So you won't get them unless you install the mod before those points. The first codex entry fires after the Hackett/Anderson briefing post-coup, and the second fires after the Anderson call post-Cerberus HQ.

Here's a workaround if you'd like to unlock the first codex entry (Crucible: Functionality):

How much EMS do I need to unlock this ending?

You only need enough to unlock the Destroy ending, which is about 5200 (or 4200 if you destroyed the Collector Base in ME2). So unless you royally screwed up somewhere, you'll very likely have enough.

Does this mod work with romance mods such as More Gay Romances?

Yes! The mod does not check for Shepard's gender when checking to see who the LI that appears at the memorial should be. It just looks at your save to find your active romance. So it will work perfectly fine no matter what romance mod you're using. In fact, we even added forward compatibility to allow for Joker or Thane to appear at the memorial if amod releases in the future that makes Joker a romance option or allows Thane to survive ME3.

What about Take Earth Back? Is it compatible?

Yes, it's fully compatible. You can check full compatibility notes in the section below.

I preferred JAM Version A. Are you going to make another version that keeps the Starchild conversation?

I have no plans to do this. This mod is a spiritual successor to JAM, but it is not a remake of that mod. This is my interpretation of the happy ending mod concept, and a version with the Starchild in it isn't something I've ever considered. Also, because of the way the mod rewrites the way that the Crucible works, putting the Starchild scene back in wouldn't make any sense.

It doesn't make much sense to me personally to keep the Starchild conversation if the Destroy ending has no real downsides. You'd end up being presented with a ton of exposition that ultimately means nothing because you'd have no reason not to pick destroy. It could make sense to keep it so the Destroy ending still kills EDI and the Geth and damages the mass relays/Citadel, but also have the memorial scene with Shepard. But at the same time, that's so similar to the vanilla ending where Shepard is shown to be alive that I'm not sure what the point would be of making a mod. In the vanilla epilogue, everything is shown to be rebuilt anyway, so really all AHEM is doing is getting us from A to B quicker.

However, I am more than happy to have a conversation with any other modder interested in making something more akin to JAM vA and who wants to use this mod's files as a base. My DMs are open.

Are you planning on adding anything else in the future?

I'm pretty happy with where the mod is now, but there will definitely be updates at some point. I'd like to potentially add in several new ending slides to further expand on the outcomes of the decisions you made in the trilogy, as well as a flashback shot for the dead Virmire squadmate so they appear along with the others at the end of the epilogue.


Compatibility & Requirements:

• AHEM requires the LE3 Community Patch & Framework version 1.5 or above.
• AHEM contains a transition patch for both Full/Lite versions of Citadel Epilogue Mod (framework version only)
• AHEM contains Anderson's Final Conversation Restored, and therefore you don't need to install it if you are using this mod.
• AHEM contains several new pre-rendered cutscenes that are ALOV-grade quality (4K 60fps). It is recommended to use A Lot of Videos so that all videos in your game are of consistent quality.
• AHEM is fully compatible with Take Earth Back.
• AHEM is fully compatible with More Gay Romances and Same-Gender Romances
• AHEM supports English VO only - but text translations are included for all 8 supported languages.

AHEM is not compatible with the following mods:

• Skippable Catalyst Conversation
• Poly Romance Mod - The AHEM patch in that mod is currently broken and not up to date. PRM must be updated by its author before it's compatible with AHEM again.

AHEM is semi-compatible with Starchild-Be-Gone, provided that you install that mod AFTER AHEM. This will allow you to use SGB's shorter dream sequences.

AHEM is semi-compatible with Unextended Cut, as that mod is highly modular. The following installation components are compatible:

• War Assets
• Beam Run
• ALL other Unextended Cut install options need to be set to "Extended Cut" to ensure smooth compatibility. AHEM is NOT compatible with any other installation option.

Installation:

This mod is required to be installed with ME3Tweaks Mod Manager. Manual installation is not supported.

To install, drag and drop the downloaded .7z file into the mod manager interface. Either install the mod immediately, or import it into your mod library, and then click "Apply Mod". You can also use the "Download with Manager" button to download the mod directly into the manager.


Credits & Special Thanks:

Project Lead: Audemus
Modding & Sequencing: Scottina123

Built using Legendary Explorer by ME3Tweaks, and built on top of files from LE3 Community Patch and Anderson's Final Conversation Restored.

Localisation:

• Spanish: tlopez098
• French: Laz77
• German: Mayfly, Autoola, KrrKs
• Italian: Lucavirtus
• Polish: Mellin
• Russian: Staminer
• Japanese: PikaShi

Bug Testing: Jacqueline4742 and Figonometry
Thank you to MrFob and JohnP for creating the original MEHEM and JAM mods, as well as everyone who contributed to their development. The happy ending mod was the project that gave birth to Mass Effect's modding scene, so it is a truly special honour for me to bring this concept to Legendary Edition.

Thank you to Scottina, who basically hard carried this mod to completion in about a week. I'd set up the new videos, codex entries, and some of the sequencing, and then Scottina came back to me with the rest of the mod pretty much functional after a few days before we finished up the rest together. You're an inspiration, my dude.

Thank you to beccatoria for allowing me to include the Anderson restoration files in AHEM. A compatibility patch wasn't possible due to how integral that scene's files are to the mod, so I really appreciate her granting me permission to integrate it fully.

Thank you to Sil for discussing ideas with me during the concept phase of this mod's development, as well as providing some pointers when setting up the new codex entries.

Thank you to Mellin for making the new Alliance uniforms for Jack and James.

Thank you to Furinax (Dylan Blanque) for providing the new Normandy video, previously used in the JAM to CEM transition mod.

Thank you to horography for making the Buff Female Shepard Body assets usable in other mods, as we were able to use the CTHa mesh to fix FemShep's neck/collar bug at the memorial.

Thank you to BioWare for creating this wonderful universe. Even though many of us didn't like how the trilogy ended, our endeavors to change it have always come from a place of love for the franchise, a franchise that wouldn't exist without you.

And of course thank you to our wonderful community of modders and fans, especially those of you in the modding discord who tried to convince me to call this Audemus' Alternate JohnP's Alternate Mass Effect Happy Ending Mod. I just wasn't brave enough.










Additional thanks to our Discord communities:
Mass Effect Modding https://discord.gg/MassEffectMods
ALOT https://discord.gg/R8FfcTh
ME3Tweaks https://discord.gg/73XVYPz