This is the first render in which I've used Soft Shadows, and I noticed these white dots in the foreground. Could this be the result of wrong Soft Shadows settings (I used the default)? The surface is Ryan's NWDA Dirt Pack.
I would say it is more likely to be some of the small stones in the dirt pack. Try disabling the fake stone shaders, then trying a test render of the bottom section.
Thanks Ryan - will give that a go.
Ryan, you might like to know that the problem is NOT with your Dirt - turning off the stones had no effect. However, I solved it by upping the Soft Shadows Diameter to 1, and the samples to 12.
I kick the samples of soft shadows to 27. I have not had any problem using this setting. It does not seem to affect the render time significantly.
That's kind of surprising, as it definitely upped the render time for me, by over 50%.
With the population sizes I typically use, plus I add lakes often; the reflections and render of hidden objects takes the most time.