ok so yea, my game is literally crashing when i open it. i click on the shortcut on my desktop, i see the box for the sdl open up and then it crashes a few moments later, i've tried running it directly from the file with no luck, and im not sure what i should do. I just downloaded it a few hours ago.

Try a different version of Toribash.
Here is a link to one, let me know if it works or not.
http://forum.toribash.com/showthread.php?t=404904

If you bother to use the other version if the other ones are not working, here a list full of clients
http://toribash.jarmund.net/clients/

imma give them a try. here's hoping!!
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Deaks version just crashed instantly too.
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none of them worked. all of them instantly crash.

What is your computer OS ?