Maybe it has something to do with your monitor's gamma setting? My old PC's monitor used to display everything dark. I couldn't play most games, though Max Payne 1 had a gamma correction setting in it's options and increasing that allowed me to play it. I then found out how to increase the gamma of my monitor, and this corrected all of my dark problems. I think it was Adobe Gamma from the Control Panel. I'm sure there are free utilities out there that can do this. I'm not sure if Windows has anything to handle this built in.

You mentioned a white patch. There is a model covering the entire view. The game starts out completely white and the controls disabled. After the white gradually fades to the scene, the controls kick in. I wonder if this model has anything to do with your white patch?