diff --git a/CMakeLists.txt b/CMakeLists.txt
index f7ee39a298e8188990704f5e0cf12af7b98231e1..9eeb577562883b1bb7fc63f25e78f4f5733cc595 100644
--- a/CMakeLists.txt
+++ b/CMakeLists.txt
@@ -75,7 +75,6 @@ unset(packages)
 find_package(ROOT 6.22 CONFIG REQUIRED)
 if(ROOT_FOUND)
   list(APPEND packages ROOT)
-  # The following CMake variables are needed until the modernization is done
 endif()
 
 find_package(FairCMakeModules REQUIRED)
diff --git a/external/InstallAnalysisTree.cmake b/external/InstallAnalysisTree.cmake
index 130d2fb3ae8c33b2604c6f594a89e2be1ab0426c..171f420b80d7e106291f12d22f83cee360ed9031 100644
--- a/external/InstallAnalysisTree.cmake
+++ b/external/InstallAnalysisTree.cmake
@@ -31,8 +31,7 @@ ExternalProject_Add(ANALYSISTREE
         -DCMAKE_CXX_FLAGS=${CMAKE_CXX_FLAGS}
         -DCMAKE_INSTALL_PREFIX=${CMAKE_BINARY_DIR}
         -DCMAKE_CXX_STANDARD=${CMAKE_CXX_STANDARD}
-        -DROOTSYS=${SIMPATH}
-        -DBOOST_ROOT=${SIMPATH}
+        -DCMAKE_PREFIX_PATH=${CMAKE_PREFIX_PATH}
         -DBoost_NO_BOOST_CMAKE=ON
         -DCMAKE_VERBOSE_MAKEFILE:BOOL=ON
         INSTALL_COMMAND  ${CMAKE_COMMAND} --build . --target install
diff --git a/external/InstallAnalysisTreeQA.cmake b/external/InstallAnalysisTreeQA.cmake
index 7328409c89186d25c34cd6714f77a11bab34070c..059aa6e35ce4c6d4013bc7ccc43a646c12f118f1 100644
--- a/external/InstallAnalysisTreeQA.cmake
+++ b/external/InstallAnalysisTreeQA.cmake
@@ -31,9 +31,7 @@ ExternalProject_Add(ANALYSISTREEQA
         -DCMAKE_CXX_FLAGS=${CMAKE_CXX_FLAGS}
         -DCMAKE_INSTALL_PREFIX=${CMAKE_BINARY_DIR}
         -DCMAKE_CXX_STANDARD=${CMAKE_CXX_STANDARD}
-        -DROOTSYS=${SIMPATH}
-        -DBOOST_ROOT=${SIMPATH}
-        -DBoost_NO_BOOST_CMAKE=ON
+        -DCMAKE_PREFIX_PATH=${CMAKE_PREFIX_PATH}
         -DAnalysisTreeQA_BUNDLED_AT=OFF
         -DCMAKE_VERBOSE_MAKEFILE:BOOL=ON
         INSTALL_COMMAND  ${CMAKE_COMMAND} --build . --target install
diff --git a/external/InstallKFParticle.cmake b/external/InstallKFParticle.cmake
index 2bb5904a8b7011610dc8e1f68b235b91662e4162..e20f9637fff65556c6fd10ff69839db4830485a3 100644
--- a/external/InstallKFParticle.cmake
+++ b/external/InstallKFParticle.cmake
@@ -48,7 +48,7 @@ ExternalProject_Add(KFPARTICLE
              -DVc_INCLUDE_DIR=${Vc_INCLUDE_DIR}
              -DVc_LIBRARIES=${Vc_LIBRARY}
              -DFIXTARGET=TRUE
-             -DROOTSYS=${SIMPATH}
+             -DCMAKE_PREFIX_PATH=${CMAKE_PREFIX_PATH}
              -DCMAKE_VERBOSE_MAKEFILE:BOOL=ON
   INSTALL_COMMAND  ${CMAKE_COMMAND} --build . --target install
 )
diff --git a/external/InstallNicaFemto.cmake b/external/InstallNicaFemto.cmake
index 7284449c12c1fe5f99680cbd039cd7733c32e20b..f0583998870cbd913d704c37efd31b69093e42b9 100644
--- a/external/InstallNicaFemto.cmake
+++ b/external/InstallNicaFemto.cmake
@@ -1,4 +1,4 @@
-set(NICAFEMTO_VERSION 0350ba6a6c4548d5a5b880d8698c25446525723c)
+set(NICAFEMTO_VERSION 402c08b17cb62d92575695d74d36dc4750b7562f)
 
 set(NICAFEMTO_SRC_URL "https://git.cbm.gsi.de/f.uhlig/nicafemto.git")
 set(NICAFEMTO_DESTDIR "${CMAKE_BINARY_DIR}/external/NICAFEMTO-prefix")
@@ -13,7 +13,6 @@ download_project_if_needed(PROJECT         NicaFemto_source
                            GIT_REPOSITORY  ${NICAFEMTO_SRC_URL}
                            GIT_TAG         ${NICAFEMTO_VERSION}
                            SOURCE_DIR      ${CMAKE_CURRENT_SOURCE_DIR}/NicaFemto
-                           PATCH_COMMAND   "patch -p1 < ${CMAKE_CURRENT_SOURCE_DIR}/NicaFemto.patch"
                           )
 
 If(ProjectUpdated)
@@ -42,7 +41,8 @@ ExternalProject_Add(NICAFEMTO
              -DCMAKE_CXX_FLAGS=${CMAKE_CXX_FLAGS}
              -DCMAKE_CXX_STANDARD=${CMAKE_CXX_STANDARD}
              -DCMAKE_INSTALL_PREFIX=${CMAKE_BINARY_DIR}
-             -DROOTSYS=${SIMPATH}
+             -DCMAKE_PREFIX_PATH=${CMAKE_PREFIX_PATH}
+             -DCMAKE_MODULE_PATH=${CMAKE_SOURCE_DIR}/cmake/modules
 	     -DJSROOT=${CMAKE_CURRENT_SOURCE_DIR}
              -DCMAKE_VERBOSE_MAKEFILE:BOOL=ON
              "${EXTRA_ARGS}"