Undesirable Normal Maps from Baking

SaboR1996

So yeah, as the title says, I get some pretty bad normal map bakes inside of max as well as using xnormal

I get the same image both through xnormal and 3ds Max 2013
I have uploaded both the normal maps I get and the low and high poly models as screen shots

as I should mention, the low poly barrel is mirrored on the Z axis. and so is the high poly barrel when it comes to placing of the top and bottom, and there is no overlapping faces when it comes to the projection modifier

tynew

What does your cage look like?

SaboR1996

Well I messed around with the cage quite a bit trying different amounts and percentages and this was the best i could get it

unit187

It looks like you have some polygons inside the mesh and they cause the problem. Try to remove them maybe?

SaboR1996

What do you mean? I have no poly's inside my mesh, my UV maps and model /w transparency show that

Froyok

From what I see from your normal map, you have some inverted vertex normals on the geometry related to the second circular UVs (don't know if it's the top or bottom).
Hard to tell with your few screenshots here...

EarthQuake

What does it look like applied to the model?

As a general rule you shouldn't make any judgements as to the "quality" of a normal map bake by looking at it in 2d, check it on the model as something that may look off to you in the image may be essential to making it work on the model.

SaboR1996

If it helps, the problem occurs on the bottom section of the model
if it helps even more
the render that I have provided is default scanline render with no lights.