Two threads up from this, is a sticky http://boards.polycount.net/showflat.php?Cat=0&Number=81058&an=0&page=0#Post81058 Contains a lot of discussion on the subject, probably a good place to start, and I'm pretty sure contains links to relevant articles.
don't use that tutorial. it's outdated and contains incorrect information. this one isn't as basic though it contains a lot better information: http://cg.tutsplus.com/tutorials/autodesk-3ds-max/project-workflow-creating-a-next-gen-sci-fi-prop-day-2/
Also, in Oblivion, you could open ANY container. Here it's pretty severely limited to SOME of the containers. Which, to me, was really a disappointment when first playing. Look, an in-tact barrel! Lootz! Then you get very disappointed when you can't open it.
On your container the texture is very blurry. Your size is also 2048x2048 way to big for an asset of that size. You dont have any scratch detail either. Keep working at it you will get there. Look at some pictures of containers to get some real reference