I think you must set shadow_stencil to 1 or 3 when you want stencil shadows to be cast from a close light. Or, you must put that light more far away.

With shadow_stencil 2 or 4, the shadow volume is a column and not a cone. So when shadows are cast in different directions, they move aways from each other but the shadow does not get bigger, I hope you understand what I mean. This way, shadows from different meshes will come apart with close lights, it was always this way.