diff --git a/engine/CMakeLists.txt b/engine/CMakeLists.txt
index e8a4a9d3..e0778b65 100644
--- a/engine/CMakeLists.txt
+++ b/engine/CMakeLists.txt
@@ -114,9 +114,9 @@ if(DEFINED ENV{BLAZE_PATH})
     include_directories("$ENV{BLAZE_PATH}")
 else()
     MESSAGE(STATUS "BLAZE_PATH not set")
+    find_package( blaze REQUIRED )
 endif()
 
-find_package( blaze REQUIRED HINTS ${BLAZE_PATH} )
 if( blaze_FOUND )
      add_library( blaze_target INTERFACE )
      target_link_libraries( blaze_target INTERFACE blaze::blaze )
diff --git a/engine/src/nn/neuralnetapi.cpp b/engine/src/nn/neuralnetapi.cpp
index 35e12df5..2990866f 100644
--- a/engine/src/nn/neuralnetapi.cpp
+++ b/engine/src/nn/neuralnetapi.cpp
@@ -220,8 +220,6 @@ Version read_version_from_string(const string &modelFileName)
 
 void apply_softmax(float* input, size_t size) {
 
-    assert(size <= sizeof(input) / sizeof(double));
-
     size_t idx;
     double maximum = -INFINITY;
     for (idx = 0; idx < size; ++idx) {