Is there any reason to have it not be one mesh? If not, you should go ahead and make it one. You'll have a few less polygons and solve the lighting problems.
I miss the classic resident evil style, like fixed camera intense gameplay puzzle solving etc. Anyone share the same felling? what do u miss the most ?
Trying to problem solve TX Motion and came across another interesting problem, The playblast changed the color of the animation for some reason...any idea why?
You don't mention the word "cage" once in your OP, and the problem you are having is solved by baking with an averaged cage. Check out the polycount wiki.