@spikeyxxx and Omar i have now opened Kent’s file, and the displacement baked just fine. now i’m certain the issue lays on my side or the mesh itself. i have noticed i have 2 duplicate verts around ear that arent merged as well as 3 on the inside of the top lip, do you think those could cause this issue? i have opened a new thread for that as was having problems with artifacts after adjusting the verts here:
https://cgcookie.com/community/14815-multires-issue
although this doesn’t sound like the solution since the normal map bakes fine…