It appears you haven't initialized SDL_Image with IMG_Init, so it would only be natural that IMG_LoadImage would fail. Be sure to check IMG_GetError and SDL_GetError to get extended error information if an operation (for the respective library) were to fail.
Also, if you are using Visual Studio, take note that the working directory of your executable is your project directory when running inside the Visual Studio, and the executable directory when running outside of the Visual Studio. (This can be changed in the debugging section of the project properties.)
Yeah so I used IMG_Init(IMG_INIT_PNG); and it's still crashing. I understand how it works with the directories and such. Just to make sure, I have pasted the paddle.png file in every goddam folder in my project.
Seriously need help with this -___-
Edit: I used the error checking and got this: "Failed loading libpng15-15.dll: %1 is not a valid Win32 application."
libpng15-15.dll is in my project directory.
Textures are the bane of my existence