Any workarounds to install Final Cut Studio 3 on an 07 MacBook?

[Heath McKnight]

And here are the two warnings (64MB VRAM vs. 128MB I need to have) from Final Cut Pro 7 and DVD Studio Pro 4.2.2. FYI, I can open the newest versions of Compressor and Cinema Tools.

Heath

[Mike Peter Reed]

Did you try this one?

macosxhints.com - Install Final Cut Studio on Macs with less than 128MB VRAM

"While it may not run too well, it is possible to get Final Cut Studio 3 to install with less than the 'required' 128MB VRAM.

Control-click on the installer package alias and choose Show Original from the pop-up menu. Control-click the original installer and choose Show Package Contents from the pop-up menu. Navigate into the Contents » Resources folder. Control-click on the Requirements Checker and choose Show Package Contents from the pop-up menu. Navigate into the Contents » Resources folder, and then open minsys.plist with Property List Editor, the default (requires Xcode).

Change the value of AELMinimumVRAM from 128 to 64 (or less if you have even less VRAM). The installer will now run normally.

After installing, Control-click on the Final Cut Pro.app in /Applications and choose Show Package Contents from the pop-up menu. Navigate into Contents » Resources folder. Open the mimsys.plist file found there, and make the same change as above. Repeat for all the Final Cut Studio apps you have installed.

No promises on how well they run with less than 128 MB VRAM, but they do run."

[Heath McKnight]

Mine didn't run at all after the workaround to install it but I'll give it a shot.

Heath

[Ursula Badertscher]

I stumbled over this tweak here:
Tips to install Final Cut Studio 3 on older white MacBook (w/Intel GMA graphics)

And indeed with a minor modification I got the thing working on my 2 GHz Macbook with Intel GMA 950!

Step 1: Insert the white Final Cut Studio Install DVD and copy its content to your desktop via "duplicate" (option-D).

Step 2: Remove the DVD and open your new Final Cut Studio Install Folder on your desktop. Control-click the Install Final Cut Studio alias (yellow package icon) and chose "open original". This will reveal the hidden original content.

Step 3: Control-click the file FinalCutStudio.mpk and chose "show package contents". Open the path >Contents >Resources and delete the file named Requirement Checker

Step 4: You should now be able to install FCS3 on your Intel GMA Mac as you would on a machine with the required hardware specs.
Since it is very unlikely that Motion will work even with this hack, I installed only FCP, Soundtrack, Compressor and Colors.
In case the installation doesn't work, you have to go back and also delete the files named InstallationCheck of every application.pkg of the Packes folder. These application packages are named FinalCutPro.pkg, Colors.pgk, Motion.pkg, etc.

Step 4: After successful installation go to Applications and use the same old control-click "show packages content" trick to reveal the files of your respective applications.
Go >Content >Resorces and delete the file MRCheckPro.bundle
Repeat this step for every FCS3 application installed.

FCS3 should now run on your Intel GMA machine!

But please don't rush out and buy a copy of FCS3 if your main machine is a Mini or plastic Macbook. How well the applications will run has not been tested yet!
There will most likely be some restrictions, especially with certain filters. I would be rather surprised if Motion ran halfway decently.

This little hack is more for people who already own a Mac with the required specs and just want to use their old Plasticbook or Mini for a few basic FCP tasks.

I wonder if this might even work on G5 Power Macs or Hackintosh netbooks as well?
Could be worth a trial, although be warned: FCS3 will overwrite the files of old FinalCut versions!
Therefore better try this on a different disk. It would be a pain in the ass to find out it doesn't work on your G5 and you'll end up re-installing the whole FCS2 package again...

[Heath McKnight]

I ran the hack and I got Final Cut Pro 7 to open! Of course, I don't know how well FCP 7 will run on this little system though.

Heath

[Heath McKnight]

I shut down my system last night; got into work and re-booted and launched FCP 7--it gave me the 64MB warning and quit. So I did the workflow listed here again:

http://www.dvinfo.net/conf/1179862-post19.html

(Deleting the file that does the system check when launching FCP 7, etc.)

And now it works fine. A little annoying that I'll have to do it every time I shut down, but hey, I'm cutting with FCP 7 and it's going great!

Yes, a 13.3" MacBook Pro is in my future. Maybe next week--gotta sell the MacBook first.

Heath

[Tim Dashwood]

I installed the FCS3 update on a MacMini just to see how well it ran. And you know what... it runs just as well as FCS2. Those requirements are there really for Motion, Color and FxPlug filters that use the graphics card for rendering.
FCP7 and compressor chug along as usual.

What bugs me is that I have two monitors on my 2009 MacPro Octo-core that are both set for 1280x768, which is their native resolution. FCS3 wants 1280x800 as a minimum resolution. It warns me over a lousy 32 lines of resolution!!!

[Christopher Drews]

Will this work for G5's or does the check go deeper to the processor level?
-C

[Heath McKnight]

Not sure but I'd venture to guess no. PowerPCs aren't supported.

Heath

[Ursula Badertscher]

Originally Posted by Heath McKnight

And now it works fine. A little annoying that I'll have to do it every time I shut down, but hey, I'm cutting with FCP 7 and it's going great!

Heath, empty your trash after moving the files to the bin. This should stop the files from sneaking back.

This happened to me as well at first. But now I can reboot and re-launch the apps as much as I want without any annoying messages.

[Heath McKnight]

I did that but they re-appeared.

Heath

[Ursula Badertscher]

That's strange...
Did you remove the MRCheckPro.bundle on every FCS3 application including Cinema Tools and Compressor?
That darn file seems to sneak back in from somewhere.

Or perhaps you still have the disk image of the installer DVD on your Mac?

[Heath McKnight]

I can actually open Cinema Tools and Compressor, so maybe I should delete those check files, too.

At the moment I have an incredible 17-inch MacBook Pro so I'm good to go there.

Heath

[Robert Lane]

Good job, Heath. This workaround may in fact help a lot of FCS editors needing to do the very same thing.

[Heath McKnight]

Thanks to everyone who helped find all the workarounds to install AND work with it. Though I'm budgeting to get a 13.3" MBP, I know not everyone had the budget for a new system. If you can eke out a little money, the Mac mini has an NVIDIA graphics processor and it may work, too, but I'm not 100% sure since I can't test it.

Apple - Mac mini - Tech Specs - Explore every Mac mini detail, inside and out.

Thanks,

Heath