To eliminate interferences I created a new empty project just with starter content.
I turned on Mesh Distance Fields in the Project Settings.
I created a masked material and used a starter content noise texture for the opacity mask and color.
I duplicated that material and as soon as i add the DistanceToNearestSurface material node to the opacity mask the shadows cast from objects with that material are gone.
You can tell from the surface that the opacity mask is working as intended but the shadows are gone.
What am I doing wrong?
Any help is appreciated!