diff --git a/apps/openmw/mwphysics/physicssystem.cpp b/apps/openmw/mwphysics/physicssystem.cpp
index 6417968d3..5d0ac1f8f 100644
--- a/apps/openmw/mwphysics/physicssystem.cpp
+++ b/apps/openmw/mwphysics/physicssystem.cpp
@@ -1088,7 +1088,7 @@ namespace MWPhysics
 
     void PhysicsSystem::addObject (const MWWorld::Ptr& ptr, const std::string& mesh, int collisionType)
     {
-        osg::ref_ptr<Resource::BulletShapeInstance> shapeInstance = mShapeManager->createInstance(mesh);
+        osg::ref_ptr<Resource::BulletShapeInstance> shapeInstance = mShapeManager->getInstance(mesh);
         if (!shapeInstance || !shapeInstance->getCollisionShape())
             return;
 
@@ -1234,7 +1234,7 @@ namespace MWPhysics
     }
 
     void PhysicsSystem::addActor (const MWWorld::Ptr& ptr, const std::string& mesh) {
-        osg::ref_ptr<Resource::BulletShapeInstance> shapeInstance = mShapeManager->createInstance(mesh);
+        osg::ref_ptr<Resource::BulletShapeInstance> shapeInstance = mShapeManager->getInstance(mesh);
         if (!shapeInstance)
             return;
 
diff --git a/apps/openmw/mwworld/cellpreloader.cpp b/apps/openmw/mwworld/cellpreloader.cpp
index c6fa3b949..047c1e99b 100644
--- a/apps/openmw/mwworld/cellpreloader.cpp
+++ b/apps/openmw/mwworld/cellpreloader.cpp
@@ -87,7 +87,7 @@ namespace MWWorld
                     //std::cout << "preloading " << mesh << std::endl;
 
                     mPreloadedNodes.push_back(mSceneManager->cacheInstance(mesh));
-                    mPreloadedShapes.push_back(mBulletShapeManager->getShape(mesh));
+                    mPreloadedShapes.push_back(mBulletShapeManager->cacheInstance(mesh));
 
                     size_t slashpos = mesh.find_last_of("/\\");
                     if (slashpos != std::string::npos && slashpos != mesh.size()-1)
@@ -123,7 +123,7 @@ namespace MWWorld
 
         // keep a ref to the loaded object to make sure it stays loaded as long as this cell is in the preloaded state
         std::vector<osg::ref_ptr<const osg::Node> > mPreloadedNodes;
-        std::vector<osg::ref_ptr<const Resource::BulletShape> > mPreloadedShapes;
+        std::vector<osg::ref_ptr<const Resource::BulletShapeInstance> > mPreloadedShapes;
         std::vector<osg::ref_ptr<const NifOsg::KeyframeHolder> > mPreloadedKeyframes;
     };
 
diff --git a/components/resource/bulletshapemanager.cpp b/components/resource/bulletshapemanager.cpp
index cb57d686f..111808e6e 100644
--- a/components/resource/bulletshapemanager.cpp
+++ b/components/resource/bulletshapemanager.cpp
@@ -14,7 +14,7 @@
 #include "scenemanager.hpp"
 #include "niffilemanager.hpp"
 #include "objectcache.hpp"
-
+#include "multiobjectcache.hpp"
 
 namespace Resource
 {
@@ -98,6 +98,7 @@ private:
 
 BulletShapeManager::BulletShapeManager(const VFS::Manager* vfs, SceneManager* sceneMgr, NifFileManager* nifFileManager)
     : ResourceManager(vfs)
+    , mInstanceCache(new MultiObjectCache)
     , mSceneManager(sceneMgr)
     , mNifFileManager(nifFileManager)
 {
@@ -151,6 +152,28 @@ osg::ref_ptr<const BulletShape> BulletShapeManager::getShape(const std::string &
     return shape;
 }
 
+osg::ref_ptr<BulletShapeInstance> BulletShapeManager::cacheInstance(const std::string &name)
+{
+    std::string normalized = name;
+    mVFS->normalizeFilename(normalized);
+
+    osg::ref_ptr<BulletShapeInstance> instance = createInstance(normalized);
+    mInstanceCache->addEntryToObjectCache(normalized, instance.get());
+    return instance;
+}
+
+osg::ref_ptr<BulletShapeInstance> BulletShapeManager::getInstance(const std::string &name)
+{
+    std::string normalized = name;
+    mVFS->normalizeFilename(normalized);
+
+    osg::ref_ptr<osg::Object> obj = mInstanceCache->takeFromObjectCache(normalized);
+    if (obj.get())
+        return static_cast<BulletShapeInstance*>(obj.get());
+    else
+        return createInstance(normalized);
+}
+
 osg::ref_ptr<BulletShapeInstance> BulletShapeManager::createInstance(const std::string &name)
 {
     osg::ref_ptr<const BulletShape> shape = getShape(name);
@@ -160,4 +183,11 @@ osg::ref_ptr<BulletShapeInstance> BulletShapeManager::createInstance(const std::
         return osg::ref_ptr<BulletShapeInstance>();
 }
 
+void BulletShapeManager::updateCache(double referenceTime)
+{
+    ResourceManager::updateCache(referenceTime);
+
+    mInstanceCache->removeUnreferencedObjectsInCache();
+}
+
 }
diff --git a/components/resource/bulletshapemanager.hpp b/components/resource/bulletshapemanager.hpp
index 4c0cb1fd2..14b26962b 100644
--- a/components/resource/bulletshapemanager.hpp
+++ b/components/resource/bulletshapemanager.hpp
@@ -17,6 +17,8 @@ namespace Resource
     class BulletShape;
     class BulletShapeInstance;
 
+    class MultiObjectCache;
+
     /// Handles loading, caching and "instancing" of bullet shapes.
     /// A shape 'instance' is a clone of another shape, with the goal of setting a different scale on this instance.
     /// @note May be used from any thread.
@@ -26,12 +28,24 @@ namespace Resource
         BulletShapeManager(const VFS::Manager* vfs, SceneManager* sceneMgr, NifFileManager* nifFileManager);
         ~BulletShapeManager();
 
+        /// @note May return a null pointer if the object has no shape.
         osg::ref_ptr<const BulletShape> getShape(const std::string& name);
 
-        /// Shorthand for getShape(name)->makeInstance();
-        osg::ref_ptr<BulletShapeInstance> createInstance(const std::string& name);
+        /// Create an instance of the given shape and cache it for later use, so that future calls to getInstance() can simply return
+        /// the cached instance instead of having to create a new one.
+        /// @note The returned ref_ptr may be kept by the caller to ensure that the instance stays in cache for as long as needed.
+        osg::ref_ptr<BulletShapeInstance> cacheInstance(const std::string& name);
+
+        /// @note May return a null pointer if the object has no shape.
+        osg::ref_ptr<BulletShapeInstance> getInstance(const std::string& name);
+
+        /// @see ResourceManager::updateCache
+        virtual void updateCache(double referenceTime);
 
     private:
+        osg::ref_ptr<BulletShapeInstance> createInstance(const std::string& name);
+
+        osg::ref_ptr<MultiObjectCache> mInstanceCache;
         SceneManager* mSceneManager;
         NifFileManager* mNifFileManager;
     };