endless 'this game requires priveliges' loop

Sorry if this isn't the right place to post this, it's my first forum post, but I genuinely have no idea how to fix this. For context, I play on PC through both steam and EA

A few months ago, I think maybe around the end of last year? my game stopped opening and I ended up fixing it by setting all the sims 4 applications in my files to 'run this program as administrator' by right clicking on them, selecting 'properties', 'compatibility' and then clicking the checkmark. Since then my game had been able to open, just with an extra pop-up beforehand from the EA app saying 'this game requires priveliges', which I just had to click 'allow' on. 

Now, though, I'll click allow, the EA app will close and my steam will say the game stopped running, and then a couple seconds later the EA app will reopen automatically, have a 'preparing game' message, and then the 'game requires priveliges' thing pops up again. It continues in a loop forever. 

I'm not tech savvy at all, but until now I've been able to fix most of my major issues through a google search or two, but I haven't found anything for this. I've tried restarting my computer (both normally and a 'full' restart by pressing shift+shut down) and that hasn't worked. Neither my steam nor EA app have a repair button anywhere that I can find. I've also tried changing it back to not run as administrator, but I just get the same loop of the EA app opening, loading, and closing, just without the 'requires priveliges' pop up. I've tried removing all my mods, which did nothing. I followed the instructions on a website to check if my graphics drivers were up to date, which they are. 

so... yeah, I have no idea.