diff --git a/src/error.h b/src/error.h
index 65c4b6e841..61d4e5a243 100644
--- a/src/error.h
+++ b/src/error.h
@@ -31,31 +31,31 @@ class Error : protected Pointers {
   void universe_warn(const std::string &, int, const std::string &);
 
   [[noreturn]] void all(const std::string &, int, const std::string &);
-  template <typename S, typename... Args>
-  void all(const std::string &file, int line, const S &format, Args &&...args)
+  template <typename... Args>
+  void all(const std::string &file, int line, const std::string &format, Args &&...args)
   {
-    _all(file, line, format, fmt::make_args_checked<Args...>(format, args...));
+    _all(file, line, format, fmt::make_format_args(args...));
   }
 
   [[noreturn]] void one(const std::string &, int, const std::string &);
-  template <typename S, typename... Args>
-  void one(const std::string &file, int line, const S &format, Args &&...args)
+  template <typename... Args>
+  void one(const std::string &file, int line, const std::string &format, Args &&...args)
   {
-    _one(file, line, format, fmt::make_args_checked<Args...>(format, args...));
+    _one(file, line, format, fmt::make_format_args(args...));
   }
 
   void warning(const std::string &, int, const std::string &);
-  template <typename S, typename... Args>
-  void warning(const std::string &file, int line, const S &format, Args &&...args)
+  template <typename... Args>
+  void warning(const std::string &file, int line, const std::string &format, Args &&...args)
   {
-    _warning(file, line, format, fmt::make_args_checked<Args...>(format, args...));
+    _warning(file, line, format, fmt::make_format_args(args...));
   }
 
   void message(const std::string &, int, const std::string &);
-  template <typename S, typename... Args>
-  void message(const std::string &file, int line, const S &format, Args &&...args)
+  template <typename... Args>
+  void message(const std::string &file, int line, const std::string &format, Args &&...args)
   {
-    _message(file, line, format, fmt::make_args_checked<Args...>(format, args...));
+    _message(file, line, format, fmt::make_format_args(args...));
   }
   [[noreturn]] void done(int = 0);    // 1 would be fully backwards compatible
 
diff --git a/src/utils.h b/src/utils.h
index a88244b694..279491e501 100644
--- a/src/utils.h
+++ b/src/utils.h
@@ -73,9 +73,9 @@ namespace utils {
    *  \param format format string of message to be printed
    *  \param args   arguments to format string */
 
-  template <typename S, typename... Args> void logmesg(LAMMPS *lmp, const S &format, Args &&...args)
+  template <typename... Args> void logmesg(LAMMPS *lmp, const std::string &format, Args &&...args)
   {
-    fmtargs_logmesg(lmp, format, fmt::make_args_checked<Args...>(format, args...));
+    fmtargs_logmesg(lmp, format, fmt::make_format_args(args...));
   }
 
   /*! \overload