Exported Windows Binary and FOPEN

I am calling fopen within my game. The version runs fine in game editor. The exported windows binary crashes. Is there a difference in the default path ? Should I put my files in the "data" directory or in the same directory as "game.ged". Are the files in the "data" directory compiled into the windows executable in any way ?
Thanks
Jason (KidsCo)
Thanks
Jason (KidsCo)