I've been trying to learn UDK lately, though roadblocks have been met often. Considering I'm quite thoroughly stuck at the moment, I figured I would give some life to this new section of interlopers with my plea for help.
Every time I import even the simplest mesh I encounter several problems. I'm not sure what can be causing them, I have followed tutorials to the letter/frame in order to learn the workflow, and yet these problems are awfully persistent. Upon each import I get a message telling me that I have not included materials in the import (even though the mesh is properly UV mapped with a material applied in 3ds Max and the texture files imported alongside the .ASE) and a message telling me that the "Generated/imported vertex count ratio (108/44) exceeds expected percentage" (which is supposedly because of an "open" mesh or the lack of a UV map, I'm not sure exactly what qualifies as "open", but I encounter this problem even with solid, basic cubes). I'm not even sure if these errors are a real impediment and the cause of some tangible, visual impact.
The most restrictive issue to arise is that which renders any mesh like this:
I honestly have no idea what is causing the shading here, it again happens on all meshes I try to import, with or without proper UV mapping. It seems not to be the material's fault, considering that when it is applied to ordinary BSP it renders "normally". I'm not properly acquainted with smooth shading, though I did apply a "smooth" modifier in an effort to correct the problem, but to no avail.
For reference, here is how the model looks in 3ds Max, it is incredibly basic:
Any help would be incredible, I'm eager to learn UDK in the epochs of spare time I have between now and March and I don't want these little hiccups to agonizingly impede my progress.