I was playing Skyrim vanilla, no updates, for a long time. It was buggy, so I updated. Never had this problem til I updated, not using any texture mods at all.

When I travel post-update, the textures of the terrain drop in quality. It's like they aren't loading til I walk close or even over them, and it usually takes a few seconds. The terrain has to load the textures but it doesn't do it til I get close to them. The unloaded textures are muddy, like Nintendo 64 muddy. I didn't mess with my INI files, I've messed with the in-game sliders and the launcher options. Nothing is working and I'm using the same setup and options I was pre-update. Is there something I can do to fix this?

So you're not even using the High Res texture pack?

Also, are you using an fps limiter like DXtory?

I'm not using any texture mods and no frame limiters.

Try deleting Skyrim.ini and SkyrimPrefs.ini in Documents/My Games/Skyrim.

The game will reset your settings to default when you launch through steam. Select a graphics setting you can run ie Medium or High, and see if the issue is fixed.

That didn't help. It was still doing it when I got back in. Didn't Bethesda change the way textures are rendered with one of the last patches?

Nope, just added new underwater effects and shadows on grass.

Tried verifying game integrity in steam? And uninstalling/reboot/reinstall your graphics drivers?