Well so the glittery effect is still there, but lessened. The TR expansions are still not loading properly, but I can see the landmass now through a fog. Before there was nothing there. The trees are still populating one at a time as I get close to it. I reran Distant Lands and things got slightly better, but it's still not working. Did I miss something in the settings? Is there a particular setting I should try?

Just a hunch, what's your mipmap LOD bias set to?

If you wish the trees etc. to appear sooner, you need to go to Distant Land tab and lower the minimum static size (near, far and very far). Just beware, this can cause quite a hit to your fps.