I have unchecked the desktop flag. It doesn't have any effect at high resolutions, on or off.
Someone here posted a savegame with some default settings that did work (~1220x780 res). So a lower resolution did make the game stop the black screen for now, thanks!
This got me as far as talking to the sorceress in the first town (which is farther than I could get before). However, now during her conversation the game hangs and I need to do a hard reset on my computer. The game is just unplayable without a patch.
I REALLY wish companies would stop using SecuRom, it is just trouble for every game that uses it. There must be a better way to use DRM, but SecuRom is certainly not it.
Otherwise I would really love any other hints you guys have. Playing at these low resolutions are really, to put it bluntly, ugly on my monitors. And if anyone else is randomly crashing and found a way to stabilize the game, please let me know
