Resolved the issue and wanted to provide closure if anyone else finds this thread. I uninstalled and deleted the sup com games (vanilla and fa), deleted the fad client, then resinstalled the games and the faf client. Went into faf settings and updated the patching to where I had supcom fa installed. After that, i was able to create/enter games. Thanks to Sheikah for their help.

I downloaded and ran the hotfix linked. when i tried to create a game, i got a popup for "locate the Forged Alliance Directory. I gave it the directory where I have a fresh install of SupCom:FA. (K:\Steam Games\steamapps\common\Supreme Commander Forged Alliance), then i get the below error. If I dismiss the error, I see another popup that says, "Uh oh! The specified location is the Forged Alliance Forever game data directory, please select the Forged Alliance installation instead."

java.util.concurrent.CompletionException: java.lang.IllegalArgumentException: Invalid path
at java.base/java.util.concurrent.CompletableFuture.encodeThrowable(CompletableFuture.java:331)
at java.base/java.util.concurrent.CompletableFuture.uniComposeStage(CompletableFuture.java:1173)
at java.base/java.util.concurrent.CompletableFuture.thenCompose(CompletableFuture.java:2299)
at com.faforever.client.game.GameService.hostGame(GameService.java:285)
at com.faforever.client.game.GameService$$FastClassBySpringCGLIB$$eb8a13b.invoke(<generated>)
at org.springframework.cglib.proxy.MethodProxy.invoke(MethodProxy.java:218)
at org.springframework.aop.framework.CglibAopProxy$DynamicAdvisedInterceptor.intercept(CglibAopProxy.java:689)
at com.faforever.client.game.GameService$$EnhancerBySpringCGLIB$$4966c64a.hostGame(<generated>)
at com.faforever.client.game.CreateGameController.hostGame(CreateGameController.java:481)
at com.faforever.client.game.CreateGameController.lambda$hostGameAfterMapAndModUpdate$31(CreateGameController.java:433)
at java.base/java.util.concurrent.CompletableFuture.biApply(CompletableFuture.java:1307)
at java.base/java.util.concurrent.CompletableFuture$BiApply.tryFire(CompletableFuture.java:1276)
at java.base/java.util.concurrent.CompletableFuture.postComplete(CompletableFuture.java:506)
at java.base/java.util.concurrent.CompletableFuture$AsyncSupply.run(CompletableFuture.java:1769)
at java.base/java.util.concurrent.ThreadPoolExecutor.runWorker(ThreadPoolExecutor.java:1130)
at java.base/java.util.concurrent.ThreadPoolExecutor$Worker.run(ThreadPoolExecutor.java:630)
at java.base/java.lang.Thread.run(Thread.java:832)
Caused by: java.lang.IllegalArgumentException: Invalid path
at com.faforever.client.game.GamePathHandler.lambda$onGameDirectoryChosenEvent$2(GamePathHandler.java:83)
at java.base/java.util.Optional.ifPresent(Optional.java:176)
at com.faforever.client.game.GamePathHandler.onGameDirectoryChosenEvent(GamePathHandler.java:83)
at java.base/jdk.internal.reflect.NativeMethodAccessorImpl.invoke0(Native Method)
at java.base/jdk.internal.reflect.NativeMethodAccessorImpl.invoke(NativeMethodAccessorImpl.java:64)
at java.base/jdk.internal.reflect.DelegatingMethodAccessorImpl.invoke(DelegatingMethodAccessorImpl.java:43)
at java.base/java.lang.reflect.Method.invoke(Method.java:564)
at com.google.common.eventbus.Subscriber.invokeSubscriberMethod(Subscriber.java:88)
at com.google.common.eventbus.Subscriber$SynchronizedSubscriber.invokeSubscriberMethod(Subscriber.java:145)
at com.google.common.eventbus.Subscriber$1.run(Subscriber.java:73)
at com.google.common.util.concurrent.DirectExecutor.execute(DirectExecutor.java:31)
at com.google.common.eventbus.Subscriber.dispatchEvent(Subscriber.java:68)
at com.google.common.eventbus.Dispatcher$PerThreadQueuedDispatcher.dispatch(Dispatcher.java:109)
at com.google.common.eventbus.EventBus.post(EventBus.java:267)
at com.faforever.client.game.GameService.postGameDirectoryChooseEvent(GameService.java:420)
at com.faforever.client.game.GameService.hostGame(GameService.java:284)
... 13 more

i could use help. im having issues starting or joining a game.

java.util.concurrent.CompletionException: java.lang.IllegalArgumentException: Invalid path
at java.base/java.util.concurrent.CompletableFuture.encodeThrowable(CompletableFuture.java:331)
at java.base/java.util.concurrent.CompletableFuture.uniComposeStage(CompletableFuture.java:1173)
at java.base/java.util.concurrent.CompletableFuture.thenCompose(CompletableFuture.java:2299)
at com.faforever.client.game.GameService.hostGame(GameService.java:285)
at com.faforever.client.game.GameService$$FastClassBySpringCGLIB$$eb8a13b.invoke(<generated>)
at org.springframework.cglib.proxy.MethodProxy.invoke(MethodProxy.java:218)
at org.springframework.aop.framework.CglibAopProxy$DynamicAdvisedInterceptor.intercept(CglibAopProxy.java:689)
at com.faforever.client.game.GameService$$EnhancerBySpringCGLIB$$6eb72553.hostGame(<generated>)
at com.faforever.client.game.CreateGameController.hostGame(CreateGameController.java:481)
at com.faforever.client.game.CreateGameController.lambda$hostGameAfterMapAndModUpdate$31(CreateGameController.java:433)
at java.base/java.util.concurrent.CompletableFuture.biApply(CompletableFuture.java:1307)
at java.base/java.util.concurrent.CompletableFuture$BiApply.tryFire(CompletableFuture.java:1276)
at java.base/java.util.concurrent.CompletableFuture.postComplete(CompletableFuture.java:506)
at java.base/java.util.concurrent.CompletableFuture$AsyncSupply.run(CompletableFuture.java:1769)
at java.base/java.util.concurrent.ThreadPoolExecutor.runWorker(ThreadPoolExecutor.java:1130)
at java.base/java.util.concurrent.ThreadPoolExecutor$Worker.run(ThreadPoolExecutor.java:630)
at java.base/java.lang.Thread.run(Thread.java:832)
Caused by: java.lang.IllegalArgumentException: Invalid path
at com.faforever.client.game.GamePathHandler.lambda$onGameDirectoryChosenEvent$2(GamePathHandler.java:83)
at java.base/java.util.Optional.ifPresent(Optional.java:176)
at com.faforever.client.game.GamePathHandler.onGameDirectoryChosenEvent(GamePathHandler.java:83)
at java.base/jdk.internal.reflect.NativeMethodAccessorImpl.invoke0(Native Method)
at java.base/jdk.internal.reflect.NativeMethodAccessorImpl.invoke(NativeMethodAccessorImpl.java:64)
at java.base/jdk.internal.reflect.DelegatingMethodAccessorImpl.invoke(DelegatingMethodAccessorImpl.java:43)
at java.base/java.lang.reflect.Method.invoke(Method.java:564)
at com.google.common.eventbus.Subscriber.invokeSubscriberMethod(Subscriber.java:88)
at com.google.common.eventbus.Subscriber$SynchronizedSubscriber.invokeSubscriberMethod(Subscriber.java:145)
at com.google.common.eventbus.Subscriber$1.run(Subscriber.java:73)
at com.google.common.util.concurrent.DirectExecutor.execute(DirectExecutor.java:31)
at com.google.common.eventbus.Subscriber.dispatchEvent(Subscriber.java:68)
at com.google.common.eventbus.Dispatcher$PerThreadQueuedDispatcher.dispatch(Dispatcher.java:109)
at com.google.common.eventbus.EventBus.post(EventBus.java:267)
at com.faforever.client.game.GameService.postGameDirectoryChooseEvent(GameService.java:420)
at com.faforever.client.game.GameService.hostGame(GameService.java:284)
... 13 more