LOD character broken

Hi I dont know if this is a bug or if Im doing something wrong.

Im using softimage and exporting 3 versions of the same character .1 base model and 2 LOD versions.
I set up the LODs using an empty gameobject and set up the LOD’s .I get it all working fine .

but if I save the file and then reload ,then only the first LOD stage is visible but LOD1 and LOD2 are invisible .

I think it might have to do with losing the prefab connection on the 2 other stages.

Basically what I am doing when I set up the LOD’s is that I drag the 3 mesh renderers onto the empty game object ,but this also drags in the skeletons for each character so I drag the mesh renderers from the other 2 LODs onto the 1st stage LOD which breaks the prefab connection.

I dont want to keep the skeletal data in the scene for the other LODs ,I just want the 2 other LODs to use the first’s skeletal data.

Does anyone know what the best way to do this is? or do I have to keep the skeletal data intact for the other 2 LODs

Any help much appreciated.

Dear Past Self

Export character and all LOD versions at the same time then you wont have that problem