I have an annoying spherical shadow 'ring' that follows the camera everywhere (only in certain lighting conditions/areas and only outside or in Blackreach). It's very bothersome when it happens.

I've spent ages trying to fix this and nothing has worked. It affects all characters and saves (even new games). It is consistently the worst in Blackreach. I've reset ini multiple times, tweaked settings reinstalled the game, turned on/off mods, etc. Nothing works. Is this just how it is?

It's better to see a video of it than to try to describe it. You can see it especially well as I zoom the camera in/out at the end:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p_iQMveImdQ&feature=em-upload_owner

I think that is just how it is.. Think that was also happening in Morrowind.

I need dome more details ???

So, you have tried to re-install the game (deleted everything and re-installed) and without mod's, with the unofficial patch, and a new character, and the same thing ????

What graphic card do you have ??? (you graphics are too flat, colorless and without any details !!!!)

(or better what's you system configuration...!!!)

I reinstalled it without mods enabled but I still had Dragonborn and Dawnguard, so maybe one of them is the culprit?

I have Nvidia GeForce GTX 680MX 2 GB, drivers should be up to date (version 320.49). Have messed a little bit with some settings through the drivers but no effect. I'm wondering if there's some sort of ini tweak that can be made. I've tweaked everything (that I know of) associated with shadows and lighting. Windows 7 64 bit if that makes a difference.

Also the reason they seem so flat is because I had turned all shadows off when I took that video (to see if it would work). Unfortunately it didn't.

I'm thinking that might be the case. For now I've tried to ignore it, it's just really bad in a few areas of the game.

It looks like it is just the view area of the ash glitching slightly to be viewed from the camera, not the character. See how it always stays directly below the camera? And you said it is almost nonexistent is places like Whiterun; there is no fog or otherwise vision inhibiting layer, so it doesn't happen.

If you absolutely must, try disabling Ambient Occlusion in the nVidia control panel. I don't think it will work for this issue, but it fixed several of my own problems with the game.