no displacment with normal/disp maps
 

i cant get any real displacement with normals they're just appearing flat like bump map
here is an image of what i mean
http://img844.imageshack.us/f/normalsproblem.png/
image is viewport render but its the same with mental ray rendering

normal maps dont displace geometry. you should use a displacement map.

pretty sure i tried displacment map also but ill give that a try

does disp map work in maya viewport?

I use a Heightfield in order to see displacement in viewport.