diff a/build_files/cmake/platform/platform_apple.cmake b/build_files/cmake/platform/platform_apple.cmake
--- a/build_files/cmake/platform/platform_apple.cmake
+++ b/build_files/cmake/platform/platform_apple.cmake
@@ -35,7 +35,6 @@ else()
   message(STATUS "Using pre-compiled LIBDIR: ${LIBDIR}")
 endif()
 if(NOT EXISTS "${LIBDIR}/")
-  message(FATAL_ERROR "Mac OSX requires pre-compiled libs at: '${LIBDIR}'")
 endif()
 
 if(WITH_OPENAL)
@@ -79,7 +78,7 @@ endif()
 if(WITH_CODEC_SNDFILE)
   set(LIBSNDFILE ${LIBDIR}/sndfile)
   set(LIBSNDFILE_INCLUDE_DIRS ${LIBSNDFILE}/include)
-  set(LIBSNDFILE_LIBRARIES sndfile FLAC ogg vorbis vorbisenc)
+  set(LIBSNDFILE_LIBRARIES sndfile)
   set(LIBSNDFILE_LIBPATH ${LIBSNDFILE}/lib ${LIBDIR}/ffmpeg/lib)  # TODO, deprecate
 endif()
 
@@ -90,7 +89,7 @@ if(WITH_PYTHON)
     # normally cached but not since we include them with blender
     set(PYTHON_INCLUDE_DIR "${LIBDIR}/python/include/python${PYTHON_VERSION}m")
     set(PYTHON_EXECUTABLE "${LIBDIR}/python/bin/python${PYTHON_VERSION}m")
-    set(PYTHON_LIBRARY ${LIBDIR}/python/lib/libpython${PYTHON_VERSION}m.a)
+    set(PYTHON_LIBRARY "${LIBDIR}/python/lib/libpython${PYTHON_VERSION}m.dylib")
     set(PYTHON_LIBPATH "${LIBDIR}/python/lib/python${PYTHON_VERSION}")
     # set(PYTHON_LINKFLAGS "-u _PyMac_Error")  # won't  build with this enabled
   else()
@@ -155,10 +154,7 @@ if(WITH_CODEC_FFMPEG)
   set(FFMPEG_INCLUDE_DIRS ${FFMPEG}/include)
   set(FFMPEG_LIBRARIES
     avcodec avdevice avformat avutil
-    mp3lame swscale x264 xvidcore
-    theora theoradec theoraenc
-    vorbis vorbisenc vorbisfile ogg opus
-    vpx swresample)
+    swscale swresample)
   set(FFMPEG_LIBPATH ${FFMPEG}/lib)
 endif()
 
@@ -199,14 +195,14 @@ if(WITH_OPENCOLLADA)
   set(OPENCOLLADA ${LIBDIR}/opencollada)
 
   set(OPENCOLLADA_INCLUDE_DIRS
-    ${LIBDIR}/opencollada/include/COLLADAStreamWriter
-    ${LIBDIR}/opencollada/include/COLLADABaseUtils
-    ${LIBDIR}/opencollada/include/COLLADAFramework
-    ${LIBDIR}/opencollada/include/COLLADASaxFrameworkLoader
-    ${LIBDIR}/opencollada/include/GeneratedSaxParser
+    ${LIBDIR}/opencollada/include/opencollada/COLLADAStreamWriter
+    ${LIBDIR}/opencollada/include/opencollada/COLLADABaseUtils
+    ${LIBDIR}/opencollada/include/opencollada/COLLADAFramework
+    ${LIBDIR}/opencollada/include/opencollada/COLLADASaxFrameworkLoader
+    ${LIBDIR}/opencollada/include/opencollada/GeneratedSaxParser
   )
 
-  set(OPENCOLLADA_LIBPATH ${OPENCOLLADA}/lib)
+  set(OPENCOLLADA_LIBPATH ${OPENCOLLADA}/lib/opencollada)
   set(OPENCOLLADA_LIBRARIES
     OpenCOLLADASaxFrameworkLoader
     -lOpenCOLLADAFramework
@@ -215,7 +211,7 @@ if(WITH_OPENCOLLADA)
     -lMathMLSolver
     -lGeneratedSaxParser
     -lbuffer -lftoa -lUTF
-    ${OPENCOLLADA_LIBPATH}/libxml2.a
+    xml2
   )
   # PCRE is bundled with openCollada
   # set(PCRE ${LIBDIR}/pcre)
@@ -276,14 +272,13 @@ if(WITH_BOOST)
 endif()
 
 if(WITH_INTERNATIONAL OR WITH_CODEC_FFMPEG)
-  set(PLATFORM_LINKFLAGS "${PLATFORM_LINKFLAGS} -liconv") # boost_locale and ffmpeg needs it !
 endif()
 
 if(WITH_OPENIMAGEIO)
   set(OPENIMAGEIO ${LIBDIR}/openimageio)
   set(OPENIMAGEIO_INCLUDE_DIRS ${OPENIMAGEIO}/include)
   set(OPENIMAGEIO_LIBRARIES
-    ${OPENIMAGEIO}/lib/libOpenImageIO.a
+    ${OPENIMAGEIO}/lib/libOpenImageIO.dylib
     ${PNG_LIBRARIES}
     ${JPEG_LIBRARIES}
     ${TIFF_LIBRARY}
@@ -306,7 +301,7 @@ endif()
 if(WITH_OPENCOLORIO)
   set(OPENCOLORIO ${LIBDIR}/opencolorio)
   set(OPENCOLORIO_INCLUDE_DIRS ${OPENCOLORIO}/include)
-  set(OPENCOLORIO_LIBRARIES OpenColorIO tinyxml yaml-cpp)
+  set(OPENCOLORIO_LIBRARIES OpenColorIO)
   set(OPENCOLORIO_LIBPATH ${OPENCOLORIO}/lib)
 endif()
 
@@ -443,7 +438,7 @@ else()
   set(CMAKE_CXX_FLAGS_RELEASE "-mdynamic-no-pic -fno-strict-aliasing")
 endif()
 
-if(${XCODE_VERSION} VERSION_EQUAL 5 OR ${XCODE_VERSION} VERSION_GREATER 5)
+if(FALSE)
   # Xcode 5 is always using CLANG, which has too low template depth of 128 for libmv
   set(CMAKE_CXX_FLAGS "${CMAKE_CXX_FLAGS} -ftemplate-depth=1024")
 endif()