Invisible hands

[Volodymyr747]

Can you tell me how to solve this problem? The hands are visible inside the engine itself, but nothing shows up when I press Play. Does anyone know what this could be?

[BRS_GerDAngelo]

Hey @Volodymyr welcome to the community!

Most of the time an issue with the visibility settings on the Skeletal Mesh component is the culprit for visible arms in the viewport and their sudden removal when entering Play mode.

Here are a few things I’d suggest checking first:

Owner No See / Only Owner See settings

1. Select your arms/mesh component inside your character Blueprint (BP_FirstPersonCharacter)

2. In the Details panel, search for Owner No See.

3. If you’re using a single full-body mesh or dedicated arms, make sure Owner No See isn’t checked by mistake or that Only Owner See is set correctly depending on how your camera/pawn ownership is set up.

“Hidden in Game” toggle

• Double check if Hidden in Game is checked under the Rendering section for that mesh component

Camera Attachment & Clipping

Sometimes the mesh is actually rendering, but the camera’s Near Clipping Plane is cutting through it or the mesh isn’t properly attached to the camera component in the Blueprint hierarchy.

If none of those fix it, could you tell me a bit more about how your Character BP is structured?

• Are you using separate mesh for the arms only or a whole third person body mesh?

• Are you setting any visibility nodes in event graph on play begin?

It will narrow down the search a bit. Let me know the outcome.

[Volodymyr747]

Thank you for the reply—sorry for the delay in getting back to you; I managed to solve that problem. To be honest, I don't even remember how I did it anymore (I'm a beginner at this). However, a different problem has come up—perhaps you might know something about it?

I can't connect the FPSmesh to the Play Montage node (I probably deleted it by mistake). What should I do? Are there any options? Please let me know if you have any ideas.

[BRS_GerDAngelo]

Hi @Volodymyr747

Glad to see you fixed that problem with the previous visibility!
Of course everyone gets in situations where they have to ask about node compatibility while first working with blueprints

Judging by your screenshot, the issue is that the Play Anim Montage requires a Character reference as its Target not a Skeletal Mesh Component.

Here are the two best ways to fix this depending on what you’re trying to achieve:

Option 1: Use Montage Play (Recommended for Mesh/AnimInstance)
Since you already have the Get Anim Instance node in your screenshot

1. Delete or drag off from the Play Anim Montage node

2. Right-click in the Event Graph and search for Montage Play.

3. Connect your Get Anim Instance node output into the Target pin of Montage Play.

4. Select your FPSIdle_Rifle_S montage in the Montage to Play pin

Option 2: Use the Play Montage node
If you want a node that connects directly to the Skeletal Mesh Component:

1. Right-click and search for Play Montage (it has an icon with output pins like On Completed, On Interrupted)

2. You can drag your Mesh/FPSmesh reference directly into its In Skeletal Mesh Component pin

Epic Games Documentation: Animation Montage

Give Option 1 a shot and let me know if the animation plays smoothly.

[Volodymyr747]

Hello, thank you for your response. I’ve loaded the starter content and restored the FPS mesh. I’ve tried a few different options, but nothing seems to work.

[BRS_GerDAngelo]

Hey @Volodymyr

Thanks for the update and for attaching the new screenshots, that helps a lot.

Looking at your setup the Blueprint logic to use Get Anim Instance → Montage Play is correct indeed.

And the fact it’s not playing almost never can be attributed to the way animation Montages communicate with the Animation Blueprint internally.

Here are the 3 most common culprits I’d check next:

Check the Slot in your Anim Blueprint

For a Montage to show up on your character, your Animation Blueprint must have a Slot node in its AnimGraph.

1. Open the Animation Blueprint assigned to your FirstPersonMesh

2. Go to the AnimGraph.

3. Right-click and add a Slot “DefaultSlot” node (or whichever slot name your Montage is assigned to)

4. Connect it between your main animation state machine and the Output Pose node. (If there’s no Slot node in the AnimGraph, the montage logic runs in code but the mesh won’t physically move)

Verify the Montage Slot Name

Open your FPSIdle_Rifle_S Montage asset:

• At the top of the timeline track, check which Slot it’s using (usually “DefaultGroup.DefaultSlot”)

• Make sure this slot name matches the Slot node you have inside your AnimGraph.

Ensure your Mesh has an Anim BP assigned

Select FirstPersonMesh in your Character Blueprint details panel and double check

• Animation Mode: Use Animation Blueprint
• Anim Class: Ensure your character’s Anim BP is selected there.

Try checking the Slot node inside the AnimGraph first. That fixes it 90% of the time.
Let me know if that brings your montage to life

[Volodymyr747]

Hello. Thank you for continuing to help. I’ve been using the basic FPS animation blueprint, and I’ve tried all the meshes—both the original one and the retargeted version. Here is what I have:All slots are set to Default.

[Volodymyr747]

I finally found the cause—there were actually two issues: the animation itself didn't work on the base mannequin (though, strangely, it worked fine after retargeting). I simply used a different one instead. Also, it turns out there are three different types of "Montage Play"! Thank you so much for your help! It was a pleasure chatting with you!

[BRS_GerDAngelo]

Hey @Volodymyr thanks for sending over the screenshots.

Looking at your AnimGraph and Montage setup your Slot setup is actually perfect (DefaultGroup.DefaultSlot in both cases)

However, I think It comes down to a Skeleton/Anim BP mismatch

• In your Anim Blueprint screenshot (ABP_Unarmed) the preview mesh is the standard UE Mannequin.

• In your Montage screenshot (FPSFire_Rifle_Ironsights_Montage) the preview mesh is SK_Survival_Character (the military character)

In Unreal Engine if a Montage belongs to Skeleton A (e.g, SK_Survival_Character) and you try to play it on an Anim BP/Mesh that uses Skeleton B (e.g, UE Mannequin) Unreal will simply ignore the Montage call and nothing will happen.

Option A: Make sure the Mesh and Montage share the exact same Skeleton

• Check which Skeletal Mesh is assigned to your FirstPersonMesh inside your Character BP.

• If you want to play FPSFire_Rifle_Ironsights_Montage:

1. Set your FirstPersonMesh to use SK_Survival_Character.

2. Make sure the Anim Class assigned to FirstPersonMesh is an Anim Blueprint created specifically for the SK_Survival_Character Skeleton (not ABP_Unarmed unless it was retargeted to it)

Option B: Duplicate/Retarget the Montage (if using UE Mannequin)

• If your character mesh is the UE Mannequin you will need to right-click the Montage asset → Retarget Animation Assets to convert the montage so it works with the UE Mannequin skeleton

Tips for debugging

Inside your Character Blueprint, right after the Montage Play node, connect the Return Value float pin into a Print String node.

• If it prints 0.0 it means Unreal rejected the Montage (almost always a Skeleton mismatch or missing slot)

• If it prints a number higher than 0 (like “1.2”) the montage is playing.

Check if SK_Survival_Character is using its own dedicated Anim BP instead of ABP_Unarmed and you should be good to go.

Let me know if that works!