Update: ctrl-alt-del allows me to open task manager and frees my screen from the clutches of this game, but in turn i am no longer able to open the game (while still being in it, connected to the server). I can then close the game this way (instead of restarting my computer as i have been doing previously). I am currently in the process of re-installing both squad and the galactic contention mod to see if the problem persists.

There is a known bug causing freezes related to audio problems, change your audio quality to low and it will be fixed temp. It's gonna be fixed with the next hotfix

Hi, this might be due to DIrectx12 so if you r using that change to directx11 may clear soethings along the way if it isnt i dunn then

also as a rule of thumb you should always set your task manager to always on top under the options in task manager so itll always be on top of anything else no matter what and then you can force close whatever you need too
its a windows thing so it always works on any program

Update: FIXED!!! thank you guys for offering solutions. What ended up fixing it for me was to set squad as high priority in task manager. I did this by following this reddit post (https://www.reddit.com/r/starcitizen/comments/qw6ff7/set_cpu_priority_after_easy_anti_cheat_release/ changing its to "SquadGame.exe" when appropriate) as it is not possible to do through task manager itself. it seems like it was a my computer problem not necessarily a mod problem but this mod triggered it at least. Hope this helps any others who may unfortunately find themseleves in the situation i had.