from the start of playing this game i noticed that shadows where looking strange on some buildings they look like a spray of grey and black pixels . I tried tweaking every setting to remove them with no success. i deleted all my drivers re installed them clean no success. deleted the game re dowloaded it nothing. i swapped out my 970 for my old 770 no success. i am stumped i have been lurking on all witcher forums i can find looking for someone with a similar problem but i see no mention of it. is it something specific to my rig or is it a game bug that i can hope to see patched.

Time of this report: 5/28/2015, 09:48:47
Machine name: I5-4560
Operating System: Windows 8.1 64-bit (6.3, Build 9600) (9600.winblue_r9.150322-1500)
Language: English (Regional Setting: English)
System Manufacturer: ASUS
System Model: All Series
BIOS: BIOS Date: 08/15/14 14:49:22 Ver: 21.03
Processor: Intel(R) Core(TM) i5-4670K CPU @ 3.40GHz (4 CPUs), ~3.4GHz
Memory: 8192MB RAM
Available OS Memory: 8130MB RAM
Page File: 2811MB used, 10694MB available
Windows Dir: C:\Windows
DirectX Version: DirectX 11
DX Setup Parameters: Not found
User DPI Setting: Using System DPI
System DPI Setting: 96 DPI (100 percent)
DWM DPI Scaling: Disabled
DxDiag Version: 6.03.9600.17415 64bit Unicode
Card name: NVIDIA GeForce GTX 770
Manufacturer: NVIDIA
Chip type: GeForce GTX 770
DAC type: Integrated RAMDAC
Device Type: Full Device
Device Key: Enum\PCI\VEN_10DE&DEV_1184&SUBSYS_1033196E&REV_A1
Display Memory: 4033 MB
Dedicated Memory: 1985 MB
Shared Memory: 2048 MB
Current Mode: 1920 x 1080 (32 bit) (60Hz)
Monitor Name: Generic PnP Monitor
Monitor Model: XVT323SV
Monitor Id: VIZ0063
Native Mode: 1920 x 1080(p) (60.000Hz)
Output Type: HDMI
Driver Name: nvd3dumx.dll,nvwgf2umx.dll,nvwgf2umx.dll,nvd3dum,nvwgf2um,nvwgf2um
Driver File Version: 9.18.0013.5286 (English)
Driver Version: 9.18.13.5286
DDI Version: 11
Feature Levels: 11.0,10.1,10.0,9.3,9.2,9.1
Driver Model: WDDM 1.3
Graphics Preemption: DMA
Compute Preemption: DMA
Miracast: Not Supported by Graphics driver
Hybrid Graphics GPU: Not Supported
Power P-states: Not Supported
Driver Attributes: Final Retail
Driver Date/Size: 5/11/2015 23:27:22, 15858728

Yep, from your description I have these strange shadow artifacts (they look like dithering). This was an issue in the Witcher 2 (saw it personally), and seems to have carried over to this game (since it uses the same engine supposedly). Do a google search for "grainy shadows in games" and some info will come up, here is one on steam:

http://forums.steampowered.com/forums/archive/index.php/t-1921799.html

I have tried everything to fix this problem (different Nvidia drivers, change to all game settings, Nvidia inspector settings etc) to no avail.

Strangely, I have seen this happen in GTA V as well, could be an Nvidia thing (though in the forum above AMD users also report the problem) ...

If they have not fixed it up to this point, I think we will just have to live with it.
Kinda feels like some retro-injection that harkens back to the old 8 bit game days.

i saw this when i was researching the issue and from what i could see the pixelation i could see was of a much more severe nature then the examples of dithering that people were posting for the witcher 2. i would post a screen shot, but it says i cant post links.

I have the exact same problem...
I even made my own thread with a screenshot...

It is dithering for sure...and for me it's not only some shadows, but also the texture fade-in/out that looks weird with this dithering effect...i watched several videos and some seem to have the same issue, some others don't...it would be nice to find a way to "fix" this because it's a huge immersion killer for me...

I've seen it too. I've only noticed it coming from hay structures, which technically would let light bleed through at the edges, so maybe its intentional, but there's just limits on how the effect can be presented? idk