Please note first that I played TW2 when it first came out and noticed none of these issues.

You can find my failed attempt to get things working here:
http://www.neogaf.com/forum/showthread.php?t=430456&page=69

In short, using maximum settings minus uber and bloom, and forcing 16xAF through CCC, my textures look like this:
http://i.imgur.com/iBcMu.jpg

Please note the wooden porch as evidence that forcing AF is working.

Additionally, various ground details such as puddles only draw in about ten feet in front of Geralt. Furthermore, objects such as those found in the vendor's stall in Floatsom's town square fade in when I'm about halfway between the tavern and stall.

System

Windows 7 x64 (fully updated)
i7 2500k
2x1650's (2 gig models)
8gig 1600
Xonar D1

What I've tried:

Drivers: 11.5, 11.5a, 11.5b - I've used driver sweeper and eventually went as far as deleting their control sets from my registry. At one point I also tried installing 11.5a through the device manager to see if CCC was the issue.

Tried with and without 11.5_CAP4.

Driver settings: AI on/off, 16xAF & "use application settings," "Texture Filtering Quality" at default & "High Quality," "Surface Format Optimization" on and off

TW2: Uninstalled, reinstalled, and tested 1.0, 1.1, 1.2

TW2 Settings: Everything under the sun? Changing settings through the launcher and by hand in the user.ini (ensuring that the file was set to "read only" after changes were made).
Partial run down:
All downscaling disabled
tried TextureMemoryBudgets from 400 to 1200
TextureTimeBudget from 10 to 20
MaxAtlasTextureSize from 2048 to 8192
MaxTextureSize from 2048 to 4096
UberSampling 0, 1, 2
AllowSharpen 1, 2
MeshDistanceScale from 1.0 to 2.2
etc. Also tons upon tons of different combinations.

RadeonPro: Used this to force LOD's from -0.1 to -2.0 but the results are middling at best. Below -.3 results in heavy crawling and the fade-in mentioned still occurs.

I am at my wit's end and am not clear what else I could try. Please help. :P

Thanks. :)

I know you don't wanna hear this, but to me it looks pretty normal. Yes, some LOD-details show up very late in front of you. Yes the shadows are meant to look like this. Sorry.

Try to change FoliageDistanceScale (it's 1.0 on Ultra), it'll solve one problem. Also I don't have problems with textures when I force AFx16 through drivers (11.5b without any CAP) on my Mobility Radeon HD5950. Try to set UberSampling to 3 if graphics > fps for you :D (it increases LOD distance)

I have not played this game without this issue, lol. I just got used to it fortunately or otherwise.

Here is my screenshot. May I have the same issue, but at least I can't see it.

Thanks for replies. :) While it is certainly far from inconceivable that I could have overlooked muddy ground textures on my first playthrough, pop-in drives me mad so the vendor's stall fading in or things like NPC's re-materializing right in front of me would not have gone unnoticed. Thanks for the shot. Maybe then I really am seeing my first time around with rose-tinted glasses, although I'm no convinced.

Here is a shot CDP released just before the game launched:

http://cdn.gamefront.com/wp-content/uploads/gallery/witcher-2/the_trading_outpost_and_town_of_flotsam.jpg

Demoniko, I give the uber tip a try.

If screenshots for comparison purposes help any i'll gladly post some of mine.

"Surprisingly" they all look the same. ^^

You can increase LOD distance to almost infinite and make everything look perfect by setting UberSampling to 4 or even more, but it will reduce your game FPS to slideshow speed (~1 frame every 2-3 seconds) :D I guess this is how they took these screenshots :D

edit: some screenshots with USx4, couldn't take from ch3 - i'm too lazy too wait another 10 minutes until game loads with USx4 -.-
edit2: jpg compression f*cked up those screenshots :(

The LOD is like that becuase of what I believe to be stylistic choice. Certainly the engine supports crystal clear textures to infinity. But, the LOD combined with DOF, I think makes for a somewhat "fantasy like" atmoshpere. There probalby is a little performance gain, as well.

As others have said you can "fix" this issue if you like. I have come to prefer this look.

Pity. I must have been too smitten the first time around to notice it. I can't say I find artistic merit in disappearing puddles and people, but that's neither here nor there.

Thanks to all for the help and screenshots. Discovering that I'm either blind or delusional is not the resolution that I was expecting, but I'll take what I can get. :P

I am not talking about the glitches, but rather the less than clear LOD. I still think that was intentional.