That's a DOS game right? Sound may not work and thus hang the game. Try disabling sound and see if it works.

When I go to boot the install or the execute, the DOS prompt comes up but then disappears. The program doesn't even boot. Do you have any suggestions?

I seem to remember this game being a total pain even under win9x. Didnt it need full real DOS to work, i think i had to use a boot disc or something at the time.

Crusader will only run in a full DOS session. It will not run in a DOS box through windows.

Try enabling DPMI by right clicking the exe and going to the memory tab. However, it's probably a EMM issue like the one I'm having in this thread http://www.ntcompatible.com/vb/showthread.php?s=&threadid=20602 , and it's giving you a message that there isn't enough Expanded Memory (that's what happens to me when I try to run certain dos games, if you unclick close on exit in the program tab when you right click, you can actually read the message). I think they messed up the protected mode expanded memory device in Windows XP, because I used to be able to enable expanded memory fine in Windows 2000 and along with VDMSound I was able to run pretty much every dos game in exsistence.
 
You can see if you've got enough of each type of memory in dos mode by making a .bat file and typing "mem /c | more" in it. You can also right click the .bat file to enable emm etc in it. This is a sure way to test whether EMM is working or not. I can't remember if Crusader required Expanded Memory or just Extended Memory, but most old dos games need Expanded Memory.
 
This sure bring back a lot of old memories from the old DOS days, trying to free up enough conventional memory (trying to get as much free conventional memory as possible was a game in itself, making boot menus etc), expanded memory issues, sound IRQ issues, editing the config.sys and autoexec files. *sigh* the good old days

I tried that but when I go to load the actual exe it says that it can't load the VPM. I've tried all the compatibilty modes and put the mem configs as high as they could go. Any ideas?

The only way I was able to run Crusader by booting back to DOS to run a full DOS session. Crusder will not run in a DOS box.

Avoid any Ms-Dos version and use real mode IBM PC-Dos to play Crusader. Install Windows 98 SE for Dual Boot. Use Audigy CD to install the Dos Driver emulation. Check the PDF Manual for configuration with the SBESET utility.
 
Prepare a PC-Dos boot diskette with Files = 60, Buffers = 45 and no Smartdrv. Include all SBINIT lines in Config.sys and Autoexec.bat. Manage upper memory blocks to allow 610K to play Crusader. Choose SoundBlaster 16 during setup.