well now I just feel like a big fool, i guess it was mapper.txt 😒 regardless thanks!

I solved my own problem but I guess I'm posting in the interest of my joystick maybe working in future versions of Dosbox. Bought a Logitech Attack 3 tonight, set it up fine, working in windows (Vista 32 bit). Would not respond in dosbox 0.73, not in X-Wing, TIE Fighter, Chuck Yeager's Air Combat, …