# UE5 Animation plays only while simulating the level **URL:** \ **Category:** Character & Animation\ **Tags:** simulate, unreal-engine, question\ **Created:** [February 20, 2026, 2:26pm UTC](https://forums.unrealengine.com/t/ue5-animation-plays-only-while-simulating-the-level/2701192 "2026-02-20T14:26:17Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 8\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![SEBatman360](https://d3kjluh73b9h9o.cloudfront.net/original/4X/2/8/5/28502927f1d97ba1051b3b47ccfe17233bf41ef0.png) [@SEBatman360](https://forums.unrealengine.com/u/SEBatman360)\ **Post date:** [February 20, 2026, 2:26pm UTC](https://forums.unrealengine.com/t/ue5-animation-plays-only-while-simulating-the-level/2701192/1 "2026-02-20T14:26:17Z")
Hello everyone, I’m experiencing a weird issue on Unreal Engine 5.7 and I can’t find a solution. Whenever I want a skeletal mesh or Metahuman to play an animation in a Sequencer, nothing happens in the Editor, except while simulating the Level… Any animation like a basic _Animation Track_ in a Sequencer or directly when adding an _Animation Sequence_ in the Detail panel of a Skeletal Mesh, the character doesn’t move if the game is not simulating. I made sure that _Always Tick pose and refresh bones_ is enabled and no others parameters seem wrong. When I change some parameters in the _Detail panel_, the character animation kind of updates itself and take the shape it’s supposed to, but if I move in the Sequencer timeline the animation doesn’t play more. It seems like UE doesn’t refresh any animation in the Editor if the Level is not simulating but I don’t know why. Has anybody experienced the same issue and find a fix ? Thank you 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![NielsTheDutchOne](https://d3kjluh73b9h9o.cloudfront.net/original/4X/2/8/5/28502927f1d97ba1051b3b47ccfe17233bf41ef0.png) [@NielsTheDutchOne](https://forums.unrealengine.com/u/NielsTheDutchOne)\ **Post date:** [February 20, 2026, 8:42pm UTC](https://forums.unrealengine.com/t/ue5-animation-plays-only-while-simulating-the-level/2701192/2 "2026-02-20T20:42:48Z")
A fix that comes to mind for me, is that you may have the “Realtime” viewport setting disabled. You can enable it with Ctrl+R, or with the three bars and picking the topmost setting under Viewport Options (Called “Realtime” with a stopwatch icon). Tip: this applies to all kinds of viewports, including those found in the Niagara editor and Material editor. Hope this helps! ---
**Author:** ![SEBatman360](https://d3kjluh73b9h9o.cloudfront.net/original/4X/2/8/5/28502927f1d97ba1051b3b47ccfe17233bf41ef0.png) [@SEBatman360](https://forums.unrealengine.com/u/SEBatman360)\ **Post date:** [February 21, 2026, 4:43pm UTC](https://forums.unrealengine.com/t/ue5-animation-plays-only-while-simulating-the-level/2701192/3 "2026-02-21T16:43:14Z")
Hi ! Thank you for your reply but unfortunately the animation still doesn’t play, even with _Realtime_ enabled. Here is a video that shows the issue : [UE5\_no\_animation.mkv](https://forums.unrealengine.com/uploads/short-url/ixiWrtFVV2zEG9icdgcu91EfJN8.mkv) (3.4 MB) I never had this problem before 5.7.0, it’s weird. ---
**Author:** ![JANA\_Filmmaker](https://d3kjluh73b9h9o.cloudfront.net/original/4X/2/8/5/28502927f1d97ba1051b3b47ccfe17233bf41ef0.png) [@JANA\_Filmmaker](https://forums.unrealengine.com/u/JANA_Filmmaker)\ **Post date:** [February 22, 2026, 2:18pm UTC](https://forums.unrealengine.com/t/ue5-animation-plays-only-while-simulating-the-level/2701192/4 "2026-02-22T14:18:53Z")
Did u got any solution for this problem. Am also facing this issue. It just ruined 1 day to find the problem. Unfortunately not able to find the solution. ---
**Author:** ![SEBatman360](https://d3kjluh73b9h9o.cloudfront.net/original/4X/2/8/5/28502927f1d97ba1051b3b47ccfe17233bf41ef0.png) [@SEBatman360](https://forums.unrealengine.com/u/SEBatman360)\ **Post date:** [February 22, 2026, 2:55pm UTC](https://forums.unrealengine.com/t/ue5-animation-plays-only-while-simulating-the-level/2701192/5 "2026-02-22T14:55:27Z")
Same sadly, I have no idea where it comes from. On what version are you ? I will try a previous to 5.7 to check because I never had that issue before. ---
**Author:** ![SEBatman360](https://d3kjluh73b9h9o.cloudfront.net/original/4X/2/8/5/28502927f1d97ba1051b3b47ccfe17233bf41ef0.png) [@SEBatman360](https://forums.unrealengine.com/u/SEBatman360)\ **Post date:** [February 24, 2026, 5:08pm UTC](https://forums.unrealengine.com/t/ue5-animation-plays-only-while-simulating-the-level/2701192/6 "2026-02-24T17:08:07Z")
Alright so I find a way to fix it. I installed a most recent version (5.7.3) but at first when I opened my project I still had the issue… So I created a new fresh one and quickly tested an animation, and it worked ! Try to install a new Engine version, create a new project and migrate your assets from your current project to the new one. I hope it’s gonna work for you as well 😉 ---
**Author:** ![JANA\_Filmmaker](https://d3kjluh73b9h9o.cloudfront.net/original/4X/2/8/5/28502927f1d97ba1051b3b47ccfe17233bf41ef0.png) [@JANA\_Filmmaker](https://forums.unrealengine.com/u/JANA_Filmmaker)\ **Post date:** [February 25, 2026, 12:46pm UTC](https://forums.unrealengine.com/t/ue5-animation-plays-only-while-simulating-the-level/2701192/7 "2026-02-25T12:46:37Z")
I’m really glad it worked for you. Unfortunately, I tried that method as well, and it’s still not working on my end. ---
**Author:** ![SEBatman360](https://d3kjluh73b9h9o.cloudfront.net/original/4X/2/8/5/28502927f1d97ba1051b3b47ccfe17233bf41ef0.png) [@SEBatman360](https://forums.unrealengine.com/u/SEBatman360)\ **Post date:** [February 27, 2026, 3:11pm UTC](https://forums.unrealengine.com/t/ue5-animation-plays-only-while-simulating-the-level/2701192/8 "2026-02-27T15:11:53Z")
Sorry to hear that 😕