sims 3 crashes to desktop on launch

ok so long story.

my main pc died a few months ago and i got custody of my boyfriends old alienware laptop. it was too bloated with windows to function, so i wiped it and installed linux nobaro.

i had been missing the sims, so i decided to try and see if sims 3 would run on it. i installed the EA app, installed the sims 3 launcher and all my purchased content, and ran the game. it ran successfully, and i played for several hours.  

then i tried to download my store content. it opened the launcher but nothing appeared in the launcher and it was 'downloading' for hours. 

i turned the game off and returned the next day. the game will not launch.

the launcher opens briefly then crashes immediately to desktop. i tried many solutions to remedy this problem, and finally just repaired the game. this seemed to work, and it worked fine after that.

i played the game most of the day and it worked just fine. even ran better than it did on my old desktop. but once again i tried to install some of my store content. ONE item, just to see if it would download it. 

it did not, and now the game crashes to desktop once again.

i have no mods or third party content installed at all. i havent even figured out how to do that on linux yet. but at the very LEAST, i should be able to play the game with the store content that i PAID for.

please advise