Hmm. When u say in step 3 you exported the normal map from z and used the original mesh, do you mean you didnt export back the low level mesh from zbrush? Also how did you create your uvs? Applied any mesh smooth/approximation editor? Either with the original base mesh from maya or the low level mesh at level 1 from ZBrush, it doesn't matter, it still looks bad. UVs were created with UVLayout and are fine since the color map looks fine. I am using the smooth mesh preview in Maya but I have not used the approximation editor since that has frequently caused issues with my models. UVs match up fine with the mesh, I already correctly flipped the V when exporting from ZBrush. Again, I tried flipping the G channel in ZBrush.