Look at this comparison: http://international.download.nvidia.com/geforce-com/international/comparisons/the-witcher-3-wild-hunt/the-witcher-3-wild-hunt-config-file-tweaks-interactive-comparison-2-on-vs-off.html

The stool in the front isn't casting any shadow even with details at maximum, and the AO is worse, too. Only after fiddling with the config file it looks as it should. It's not a rare occurance either. It's a problem with pretty much all small-ish props, like stuff on tables (kegs and whatnot). They often either don't cast shadows at all or at least have no AO working.

Please fix it. At least for the ultra settings. Once you know what it's supposed to look like, all you see the flaws when it doesn't.

If anyone knows the exact settings to change in the config, please post them. I haven't been able to pick out the setting that matters and I don't want to turn everything to 11 since my PC probably couldn't handle that.

Here's another one:

http://s3.postimg.org/lafzv3xcz/missing_shadows.jpg

The first comparison was obtained from here, where you'll find a complete guide about tweaking the game's graphics.

Maybe some of these will help:
http://www.nexusmods.com/witcher3/mods/searchresults/?src_cat=4

I think i've narrowed it down to CascadeShadowDistanceScale0=1 (after looking through the guide)

Normally I have had this tweaked to 2, so I haven't noticed this problem so much. I have a medium system (Radeon 7970 aka R9 280x) so I have to lower CascadeShadowmapSize=3072 (ultra) to CascadeShadowmapSize=1024 (lowest), as shadows do affect performance quite noticably.

My framerate does not change even when CascadeShadowDistanceScale0=4

hopefully that helps!

Edit: Sorry about the second image, a cloud was flying over at the time so it appears darker. You will also notice the shadows of one of the birds flying over the bridge at the time. Those birds aren't in the last image, hence the missing shadow.

Sorry to double post but the option CascadeShadowDistanceScale1=1 significantly changes the image (and I need more space to attach images :) )

Changing to CascadeShadowDistanceScale1=4 results in quite a change in long distance shadows (but there is a performance hit).

Finally changing CascadeShadowQuality=1 -> CascadeShadowQuality=4 does result in better conecting of shadows.

Thanks Jamie.monro. I shall try that ASAP and report back. The screenshots (thanks) look promising.

Your question inspired me to spend quite a bit of time tweaking these settings within the game today :)

I've discovered that CascadeShadowQuality doesn't seem to do much to the overall image. I've set it from 0 -> 4 and can't see much of a difference. I thought at the time it connected the shadows a bit better in the distance, but I found that the wind was responsible for that.

In any case these settings make a decent difference to the shadow visuals:
CascadeShadowDistanceScale0=4
CascadeShadowDistanceScale1=4

And it is going to cost me (~10% my framerate), but I think i'm going to have to go with 2048 size shadow maps...distant shadows looks much better (Ignore the FPS counter here, it isn't telling the truth).

CascadeShadowmapSize=2048

Sometimes I have a huge square of shadow under Geralt, everywhere I go. Guess it simply loves me.

Just don't blame me for wasting your time. ;)

I also set the ShadowmapSize to 2048 because I don't mind the slightly less sharp shadows. On the contrary actually, I rather take the small performance gain.

I'll try your suggested tweaks tomorrow.

The user.settings file located under C:\users\<NAME>\My Documents\The Witcher 3\user.settings is used in conjunction with C:\games\The Witcher 3 Wild Hunt\bin\config\base\rendering.ini

It could be that some setting in this rendering.ini file could of been messed up somehow. These should be the default settings for v1.04 in the rendering.ini file located normally in C:\games\The Witcher 3 Wild Hunt\bin\config\base\ on PC:

<START COPY NEXT LINE>
[PostProcess]
AllowBloom=true
AllowShafts=true
AllowAntialias=true
AllowMSAA=false
AllowBlur=true
AllowDOF=true
AllowVignette=true
SharpenAmount=1.f
AllowRain=true
AllowSSAO=true
AllowMotionBlur=true
AllowCutsceneDOF=true
AllowBillboards=true
AllowSoftLight=true
AllowFog=true
AllowUnderwater=true
AllowChromaticAberration=true
[Rendering]
MaxTextureSize=2048
MaxAtlasTextureSize=2048
MaxCubeShadowSize=512
MaxSpotShadowSize=512
TextureDownscale=0
DetailTextureDownscale=0
AtlasTextureDownscale=0
TextureMemoryBudget=500
TextureMemoryGUIBudget=80
TextureTimeBudget=10
TextureInFlightBudget=128
DecalsChance=1.0f
DecalsSpawnDistanceCutoff=10.0f
TextureStreamingDistanceLimit=40000.f
TextureStreamingCharacterDistanceLimit=50.f
TextureStreamingHeadsDistanceLimit=10.f
TextureStreamingReduceGameplayLOD=true
UberSampling=0
TextureMipBias=0
MsaaLevel=0
DynamicDecalsLimit=30
MeshRenderingDistanceScale=1.0f
MeshLODDistanceScale=1.0f
TerrainScreenSpaceErrorThreshold=2.0f
TerrainErrorMetricMultiplier=10
ForceInstantAdaptation=false
ForceInstantEnvProbeUpdate=false
EnableTemporalAA=true
CascadeShadowFadeTreshold=1.0f
CascadeShadowmapSize=1024
CascadeShadowQuality=0
MaxCascadeCount=4
MaxTerrainShadowAtlasCount=3
GlobalOceanTesselationFactor=10
UseDynamicWaterSimulation=true
UseHairWorks=false
HairWorksAALevel=8
TerrainReadAheadDistance=200.0f
ForcedDebugPreviewIndex=-1
HardwareCursor=false
[TextureStreaming]
MaxResidentMipMap=6
[LevelOfDetail]
MeshLodGameplayDownscale=0
CharacterLodGameplayDownscale=0
DecalsHideDistance=30
StripeHideDistance=60
SwarmHideDistance=200
DimmerHideDistance=60
[Budget]
DecalBudget=100
<FINISH COPY PREVIOUS LINE>

Then delete the user.settings file and the user.settings.bak files located here: C:\users\<NAME>\My Documents\The Witcher 3\ (windows 7 pc here)

Be cautious with this folder as it includes the savegames, so don't delete the entire folder!

Deleting this file should recreate a new user.settings file. You should now hopefully be running the default settings, unless some of the other files under C:\games\The Witcher 3 Wild Hunt\bin\config\base\ have been messed up; in which case a backup of your savegame and a reinstall should hopefully help.