Missing Generator ( Red Screen with Yellow Exclamation Mark )

After you have installed your generator or effect and you see an image with a red screen and a yellow mark as shown in the image below it means that you will need to upgrade to the latest version of Final Cut Pro.

 

There is an easy way to make templates backward compatible using this website tool: https://fcpxtemplates.com/motion-template-backdater/

If the backdate tool linked above does not work, we could also try the manual way explained in great detail here: https://fcpxtemplates.com/fcpx-motion-compatibility/

If we want to do this manually, we can make a template backward compatible by following this step:

  • Before we begin please make sure to make backup copies of the original template files for safety.
  • First, open the Motion file in the Text Editor or Sublime.  I prefer the free Sublime Text Editor for more accurate results.
  • The template file can be found in Users/Movies/Motion Templates and then in the corresponding folder either a Text, Generator, or Effect.
  • Follow the instructions here to see which version needs matches with your FCPX
  • Relaunch Final Cut X and add the template back to the timeline. It should now work fine now in FCPX.
  • If we still get the red mark, then I would recommend taking the numbers lower for older versions of FCPX.

To help save time you can copy and replace the top 4 lines with the following code.  Make sure to add the version numbers that match with your version of FCPX:

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>

<!DOCTYPE ozxmlscene>

<ozml version="5.5">

<displayversion>5.0.7</displayversion>

Here is a chart that I had found at the link above for quick reference:

Also just so you are aware, in order to provide the best templates I can offer with the newest features I use the latest version of each software when I create new templates.  I would also recommend we update to the latest version of your software to guarantee the best experience if you can.  Just make sure we complete any current projects we are working on before we update.

Updating Final Cut Pro will allow us to take advantage of all the new features of Final Cut Pro and all the new templates will work properly.

If we choose to update Final Cut Pro, first please make sure to Archive Final Cut Pro, this way we may always go back to if we need it.  And also do a backup of the Libraries we are working as the latest version of Final Cut Pro will need to update them as well.  Once a Library is updated, we will not be able to open it in the prior version of Final Cut Pro.
The backups will allow us to go back if we need to.  Make sure to close all Events and Libraries before we update as Final Cut Pro will ask to update our open libraries when we re-launch Final Cut Pro

Here is a link by Apple on how to backup our older versions of Final Cut Pro and libraries, before we update: https://support.apple.com/en-us/HT203010

Please let me know what you think or if you have any questions.  Thank you and have an excellent day!