Mack, I'm not a techie either, but I have a couple of thoughts on this.
Re: No1. I don't know what is preventing the connection to Origin, but, you can play by bypassing the launcher. It might be useful to try this and see if your game plays any better or worse. To create a shortcut, right click on desktop and select new followed by shortcut. Then browse for the file TS3EP01. (alternatively, do a search for the file and path then type it in.) I think there is a thread here on Origin problems which may help you. But, I would see if there is any change in the game played without the launcher.
You say you have re-installed all EP's and your stuff pack. Does this mean that you did not uninstall and re-install the base game? If this is the case, you could try a factory reset, though I do not know if this will help.
After re-installing, did you go into options and reset your preferences? Lowering graphics, turning off memories and turning off the spawners (such as pets) can all improve performance.
On your computer, if you haven't already done so, run cc cleaner, and Malwarebytes, (both free to download) and do a defrag after the clean to improve your computer performance.
Do you have enough free drive capacity for paging functions?
Do you have a lot of old saved games? Sometimes these can contain .bad files which can interfere with your current games. Delete all old games which you do not need to keep, and delete all .bad files as these are corrupted and cannot be used though they can affect your game.
It would be useful to others trying to help if you could say if you are using any mods or cc or not.
I believe I read on another thread that the "chat with nooboo" is a new game glitch which a lot of players are experiencing.
