The European (DVD) versions of the game can hang on the Windows Desktop or a black screen if either of the North American version patches have been applied.
If you have downloaded and attempted to apply the US/Noth American patches, you should uninstall and reinstall the game.
Please note that the European DVD ROM versions of the game already have all of the updates applied.
Another potential reason for a black screen is the prescence of a DVD region- free program such as "AnyDVD." If you have this installed, it should be completely disabled and the system rebooted, prior to running the game.
