Seems so

I'm also having this shadow issue.

What happens if one sets that parameter "r2_sun_near_border X" as 0? I'm going to try 0.85 and 1.0 to see if they disappear.

I found these instructions today:

http://www.metacognix.com/stlkrsoc/TroubleshootingFAQ.html#Shadows

I used both entries exactly as described and it eliminated the weird shadows. I was amazed! Never knew a real fix was available all this time.
I didn't use the console but entered the values directly into the user.ltx file.

r2_sun_near 20
r2_sun_near_border 1.0

Thanks! I'll report back if it works for me as well.

Shouldn't that issue be patched on the gog version, can it be patched?
I use Complete 2009 or Autum Aurora and they have different values

I was wondering about that too. It seems easy enough to provide the modified user.ltx file. But it may be that the game changes those values when it first starts up. I get that impression from reading the explaination for the problem in that link I provided above. I really don't know.

Looking more into it, I appear to have been wrong with what I said originally. I tried the Steam version, and good lord the shadows looked abysmal.

It does appear the GoG version uses the normal retail settings (maybe a few changes but nothing I noticed), so yay ! I think I may have loaded it up after all this time, seen the shadow glitches and immediately thought it had the same issue as the steam version, whereas it has been that way all the time (I previously saw it while playing in 1680x1050, I now play at 1080p and maybe that makes it stick out more). I apologise to GoG for jumping in with this before fully grasping the facts :)

However .....

I'm not a fan of the forced v-sync, doesn't the game have its own V-Sync option anyway ? And im not sure if this is causing a strange frame skipping/stutteryness when around camp fires, because on any other version I can run around these without issue, but on the GoG version I get the horribleness.

Did I read correctly that GoG staff can send the original files that remove the V-Sync lock ?

Yes.

Perfect, I have now asked :)

I did a comparison of the user.ltx files from both retail and GoG version after I changed my video settings (1080p, Full Dynamic Lighting, Maximum preset), and yeah they are basically identical, bar a few small server settings from what I could tell.

I forced V-Sync off through Nvidia control panel, and ran around some camp fires again .... no horrible jitteriness. Turned it back on, and the issue came back, so from what I can tell it is V-Sync causing it.

And to conclude, I got the original files from GoG, and now SoC runs perfectly, no jitteriness, hurray ! Perfect version now :)

I also encountered the stuttering issue around camp fires etc., was initially wondering if it was an issue with 1.0006 as I never patched my retail copy to that version. Anyway I contacted support today for the original files, their response was very swift :) SoC runs *much* better now.