diff --git a/components/esm/variantimp.cpp b/components/esm/variantimp.cpp
index 64dc980b8c..129b6c6d0e 100644
--- a/components/esm/variantimp.cpp
+++ b/components/esm/variantimp.cpp
@@ -52,7 +52,10 @@ void ESM::readESMVariantValue(ESMReader& esm, Variant::Format format, VarType ty
         esm.getHNT (value, "FLTV");
 
         if (type==VT_Short)
-            out = static_cast<short> (value);
+            if (isnan(value))
+                out = 0;
+            else
+                out = static_cast<short> (value);
         else if (type==VT_Long)
             out = static_cast<int> (value);
         else