diff --git a/apps/openmw/mwphysics/physicssystem.cpp b/apps/openmw/mwphysics/physicssystem.cpp
index 6960d2801..1898a3de1 100644
--- a/apps/openmw/mwphysics/physicssystem.cpp
+++ b/apps/openmw/mwphysics/physicssystem.cpp
@@ -605,7 +605,7 @@ namespace MWPhysics
     // ---------------------------------------------------------------
 
     PhysicsSystem::PhysicsSystem(Resource::ResourceSystem* resourceSystem, osg::ref_ptr<osg::Group> parentNode)
-        : mShapeManager(new Resource::BulletShapeManager(resourceSystem->getVFS()))
+        : mShapeManager(new Resource::BulletShapeManager(resourceSystem->getVFS(), resourceSystem->getSceneManager()))
         , mDebugDrawEnabled(false)
         , mTimeAccum(0.0f)
         , mWaterHeight(0)
diff --git a/components/resource/bulletshapemanager.cpp b/components/resource/bulletshapemanager.cpp
index 3254a5c97..d573b455d 100644
--- a/components/resource/bulletshapemanager.cpp
+++ b/components/resource/bulletshapemanager.cpp
@@ -1,16 +1,99 @@
 #include "bulletshapemanager.hpp"
 
+#include <osg/NodeVisitor>
+#include <osg/Geode>
+#include <osg/TriangleFunctor>
+
+#include <BulletCollision/CollisionShapes/btTriangleMesh.h>
+
 #include <components/vfs/manager.hpp>
 
 #include <components/nifbullet/bulletnifloader.hpp>
 
 #include "bulletshape.hpp"
+#include "scenemanager.hpp"
+
 
 namespace Resource
 {
 
-BulletShapeManager::BulletShapeManager(const VFS::Manager* vfs)
+struct GetTriangleFunctor
+{
+    GetTriangleFunctor()
+        : mTriMesh(NULL)
+    {
+    }
+
+    void setTriMesh(btTriangleMesh* triMesh)
+    {
+        mTriMesh = triMesh;
+    }
+
+    void setMatrix(const osg::Matrixf& matrix)
+    {
+        mMatrix = matrix;
+    }
+
+    inline btVector3 toBullet(const osg::Vec3f& vec)
+    {
+        return btVector3(vec.x(), vec.y(), vec.z());
+    }
+
+    void inline operator()( const osg::Vec3 v1, const osg::Vec3 v2, const osg::Vec3 v3, bool _temp )
+    {
+        if (mTriMesh)
+            mTriMesh->addTriangle( toBullet(mMatrix.preMult(v1)), toBullet(mMatrix.preMult(v2)), toBullet(mMatrix.preMult(v3)));
+    }
+
+    btTriangleMesh* mTriMesh;
+    osg::Matrixf mMatrix;
+};
+
+/// Creates a BulletShape out of a Node hierarchy.
+class NodeToShapeVisitor : public osg::NodeVisitor
+{
+public:
+    NodeToShapeVisitor()
+        : osg::NodeVisitor(TRAVERSE_ALL_CHILDREN)
+        , mTriangleMesh(NULL)
+    {
+
+    }
+
+    virtual void apply(osg::Geode& geode)
+    {
+        for (unsigned int i=0; i<geode.getNumDrawables(); ++i)
+            apply(*geode.getDrawable(i));
+    }
+
+    virtual void apply(osg::Drawable &drawable)
+    {
+        if (!mTriangleMesh)
+            mTriangleMesh = new btTriangleMesh;
+
+        osg::Matrixf worldMat = osg::computeLocalToWorld(getNodePath());
+        osg::TriangleFunctor<GetTriangleFunctor> functor;
+        functor.setTriMesh(mTriangleMesh);
+        functor.setMatrix(worldMat);
+        drawable.accept(functor);
+    }
+
+    osg::ref_ptr<BulletShape> getShape()
+    {
+        osg::ref_ptr<BulletShape> shape (new BulletShape);
+        TriangleMeshShape* meshShape = new TriangleMeshShape(mTriangleMesh, true);
+        shape->mCollisionShape = meshShape;
+        mTriangleMesh = NULL;
+        return shape;
+    }
+
+private:
+    btTriangleMesh* mTriangleMesh;
+};
+
+BulletShapeManager::BulletShapeManager(const VFS::Manager* vfs, SceneManager* sceneMgr)
     : mVFS(vfs)
+    , mSceneManager(sceneMgr)
 {
 
 }
@@ -37,12 +120,22 @@ osg::ref_ptr<BulletShapeInstance> BulletShapeManager::createInstance(const std::
         if (extPos != std::string::npos && extPos+1 < normalized.size())
             ext = normalized.substr(extPos+1);
 
-        if (ext != "nif")
-            return NULL;
-
-        NifBullet::BulletNifLoader loader;
-        // might be worth sharing NIFFiles with SceneManager in some way
-        shape = loader.load(Nif::NIFFilePtr(new Nif::NIFFile(file, normalized)));
+        if (ext == "nif")
+        {
+            NifBullet::BulletNifLoader loader;
+            // might be worth sharing NIFFiles with SceneManager in some way
+            shape = loader.load(Nif::NIFFilePtr(new Nif::NIFFile(file, normalized)));
+        }
+        else
+        {
+            // TODO: support .bullet shape files
+
+            osg::ref_ptr<const osg::Node> constNode (mSceneManager->getTemplate(normalized));
+            osg::ref_ptr<osg::Node> node (const_cast<osg::Node*>(constNode.get())); // const-trickery required because there is no const version of NodeVisitor
+            NodeToShapeVisitor visitor;
+            node->accept(visitor);
+            shape = visitor.getShape();
+        }
 
         mIndex[normalized] = shape;
     }
diff --git a/components/resource/bulletshapemanager.hpp b/components/resource/bulletshapemanager.hpp
index 3e1f05ce5..6b8e64c21 100644
--- a/components/resource/bulletshapemanager.hpp
+++ b/components/resource/bulletshapemanager.hpp
@@ -23,13 +23,14 @@ namespace Resource
     class BulletShapeManager
     {
     public:
-        BulletShapeManager(const VFS::Manager* vfs);
+        BulletShapeManager(const VFS::Manager* vfs, SceneManager* sceneMgr);
         ~BulletShapeManager();
 
         osg::ref_ptr<BulletShapeInstance> createInstance(const std::string& name);
 
     private:
         const VFS::Manager* mVFS;
+        SceneManager* mSceneManager;
 
         typedef std::map<std::string, osg::ref_ptr<BulletShape> > Index;
         Index mIndex;