Foreground "Shadows"

I have this weird thing where some "shadows" (not quite sure what to call them) appear closer to the camera than objects/terrain making it appear above the character.

I'm guessing it's some issue with shaders having become corrupt.

I've also had some other weird issues I think may be shader related, like the game freezing for a few seconds when entering one of the new boss fights, the game turning black and the "loading gears" appearing before then resuming.

The black screen with "loading gears" also appears on the login screen for what feels like longer than usual.

Some images displaying the issue


My settings ingame:


DXDIAG info link