Issues starting the game / Mid-game freeze bug

Device: 2020 ASUS ROG Zephyrus Gaming Laptop / Graphics: NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1650 /Memory: 2400 MHz / 16GB Ram, 1TB Flash Memory

When I try to run the game, sometimes it won't start. The EA app doesn't properly function most days and that should be checked--better yet, renovated. I've resorted to using the Steam app to run Sims 4, but that sometimes doesn't work either.

Other times, when the game works, it'll freeze after 15-20 minutes of gameplay. I could click around, (open the game settings, click & drag around the map, attempt to pause or skip time ahead, give the sims an action to do) however, nothing works. Time will not advance, the sims' actions do not go through, etc. 

My game was fine before I installed the new update, so i'm not sure what exactly changed.