MH hair simulation caching in sequencer issue

Hello Epic Games Support Team,

I am facing an issue with MetaHuman groom hair simulation caching in Level sequencer using Unreal Engine 5.6.

When opening or playing a Level Sequence, the MetaHuman groom hair simulation does not cache correctly. The hair either resets, does not simulate, or behaves inconsistently when the sequence starts. This happens especially when the sequence is opened directly or evaluated from frame 0.

I have tested the following:

  • Created and assigned a Groom Cache asset

  • Enabled simulation on the Groom component

  • Set Simulation Space to World

  • Adjusted tick settings (Post Physics, Always Tick Pose and Refresh Bones)

  • Used Pre-Roll and warm-up frames in Sequencer

  • Tested Movie Render Queue with engine and render warm-up frames

Despite these steps, the groom simulation still does not reliably cache or initialize when the Level sequence opens, unless the scene is allowed to play for some time beforehand.

Could you please confirm:

  • Whether this is a known issue or expected behavior in UE 5.6

  • The recommended or correct workflow for ensuring groom simulations cache properly in Sequencer

If there are any engine-side fixes, settings, or best practices specific to UE 5.6 for MetaHuman groom caching

Any guidance or clarification would be greatly appreciated, as this impacts cinematic workflows and final renders.

Thank you for your time and support.

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Hi, the groom cache asset is for now supposed to only be read in sequencer. So you should cache it from another package (houdini) and read it in UE (so no need to enable simulation). You can however cache the niagara simulation directly using standard niagara caching from your level sequence track. You have as well an option to generate a groom cache from dataflow but it is highly experimental at that stage and has been introduced in 5.7. If you more details on this please let me know.

Thanks

Michael

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