That would be your problem then. Look online for guides to getting QC material paths right, this isn't an issue with the exporter.

Try viewing the model in HLMV. In-game, try enabling wireframe mode.

SMD is triangulated on export, DMX is triangulated by the model compiler. It won't do any harm to add the modifier yourself.

Seam and Sharp are two separate edge properties, neither depends on the other.

You can export any smoothing settings you like with these steps:

1. Enable smooth shading across the entire object
   
2. Enable Auto Smooth in mesh properties
   
3. Optional: adjust the auto-smooth angle
   
4. Mark the remaining sharp edges you want manually (Ctrl+E from edit mode)

If that isn't working, there is a bug in the exporter that needs to be fixed.

You can also save a blend file normally and use it for all your work on that project, creating multiple scenes inside the file as needed.

There is a built-in weight limit feature. Adjust the Weight Link Cull Threshold value, which is in the Export panel. Whack it all the way up to 1 if you don't want to edit the mesh.

The Tools' code accounts for changes to the limit too (it's higher in Source 2).

I've poked at this problem for a while this weekend and I think your mesh may have some sort of messed up internal state. The exporter does some work to mesh objects before exporting them, and it relies on Blender not altering vertex or loop order during that process. That appears to be exactly what is happening.

The good news is that if I export the mesh to FBX then reimport it the DMX is generated correctly. I've also been able to alter which areas of the exported DMX get bad normals/UVs by running the Separate op.

In short, you should look into refreshing the underlying mesh data in a way which doesn't alter its appearance. The FBX re-import looked fine to me. :)

I'm getting the problem now. I'll look into it!

There's nothing wrong with my export of the mesh. Can you send me the original blend please?

I imported the animation on top of the SDK's scout_morphs_high.dmx file and it works fine.