Please help me understanding the engine

[Syncing]

Good day,

 

I mod Skyrim now since mid December, I played Oblivion before but never cared about modding it or using mods in it. What I wanna say is I have no idea how the engine works - I only modded CS:S and some other Source-Engine-based games.

Now here is my most important question:

 

How does the normal mapping work in Skyrim? I really don't get it. All the models I create are baked. For all who don't know this, basically you create a highpoly, detailed version of your model and bake all the details (like engravings or (the most important part) the round edges). After baking, your model with an applied normals map looks like this:

 

http://i.imgur.com/OKSFRl.png

 

Now I give the model to my texturist and he edites the normals map. The model with the edited normals map looks like this (Note that this version of the normal map exists to see how good the normals work ingame):

 

http://i.imgur.com/vrCwgl.png

 

But you can clearly see the smooth edges and details like the round bolts and the grip-structure.

 

And ingame, it looks like this:

 

http://i.imgur.com/fDLKdl.jpg

 

The normal map is missing.

I put the spec map into the alpha channel. I saved the file as a DDS with the profile

 

DXT 5 ARGB 8 bpp | interpolated alpha

 

and used the Keep-Detail-Presets.

Also I wrote the path to the normal map into the correct line.

If I rename the normal map so the game cannot find it, the weapon ingame is bright as f***, with normal map the light reflects where it should. Looks like the alpha channel works.

So why doesn't the normal map work for me? What do I did I do wrong? I really can't get this into my head.

 

Thanks in advance.

 

~Sync