diff --git a/apps/openmw/mwworld/physicssystem.cpp b/apps/openmw/mwworld/physicssystem.cpp
index 6802d61187..2013937612 100644
--- a/apps/openmw/mwworld/physicssystem.cpp
+++ b/apps/openmw/mwworld/physicssystem.cpp
@@ -58,13 +58,16 @@ void animateCollisionShapes (std::map<OEngine::Physic::RigidBody*, OEngine::Phys
         for (std::map<std::string, int>::iterator shapeIt = shapes.begin();
              shapeIt != shapes.end(); ++shapeIt)
         {
-            Ogre::Node* bone = animation->getNode(shapeIt->first);
 
-            // FIXME: this will happen for nodes with empty names. Ogre's SkeletonInstance::cloneBoneAndChildren
-            // will assign an auto-generated name if the bone name was empty. We could use the bone handle instead of
-            // the bone name, but that is a bit tricky to retrieve.
+            Ogre::Node* bone;
+            if (shapeIt->first.empty())
+                // HACK: see NifSkeletonLoader::buildBones
+                bone = animation->getNode(" ");
+            else
+                bone = animation->getNode(shapeIt->first);
+
             if (bone == NULL)
-                continue;
+                throw std::runtime_error("can't find bone");
 
             btCompoundShape* compound = dynamic_cast<btCompoundShape*>(instance.mCompound);
 
diff --git a/components/nifogre/skeleton.cpp b/components/nifogre/skeleton.cpp
index 26647e595d..c96f03950f 100644
--- a/components/nifogre/skeleton.cpp
+++ b/components/nifogre/skeleton.cpp
@@ -14,10 +14,24 @@ namespace NifOgre
 void NIFSkeletonLoader::buildBones(Ogre::Skeleton *skel, const Nif::Node *node, Ogre::Bone *parent)
 {
     Ogre::Bone *bone;
-    if(!skel->hasBone(node->name))
-        bone = skel->createBone(node->name);
+    if (node->name.empty())
+    {
+        // HACK: use " " instead of empty name, otherwise Ogre will replace it with an auto-generated
+        // name in SkeletonInstance::cloneBoneAndChildren.
+        static const char* emptyname = " ";
+        if (!skel->hasBone(emptyname))
+            bone = skel->createBone(emptyname);
+        else
+            bone = skel->createBone();
+    }
     else
-        bone = skel->createBone();
+    {
+        if(!skel->hasBone(node->name))
+            bone = skel->createBone(node->name);
+        else
+            bone = skel->createBone();
+    }
+
     if(parent) parent->addChild(bone);
     mNifToOgreHandleMap[node->recIndex] = bone->getHandle();