[lak89]

I've read the installation advice, but the game crashes just after i load the game into the first pilot select screen.

fs2_open_3_6_9 caused an Access Violation in module fs2_open_3_6_9.exe at 001b:004075ca.
Exception handler called in FreeSpace 2 Main Thread.
Error occurred at 10/19/2007 22:18:32.
D:\Freespace 2\fs2_open_3_6_9.exe, run by chan.
1 processor(s), type 586.
511 MBytes physical memory.
Read from location 000000d0 caused an access violation.

and one other question, does OpenGL have to be installed into the freespace 2 directory?

[karajorma]

OpenGL should have been installed when you installed your graphics card drivers. OpenAL shouldn't be in that folder either (you do need to install it but it will figure out where to go itself).

The error log usually isn't that helpful in these cases. What you should do is run the debug build and post the fs2open.log it creates in your data folder.