Having issues with Mapper. I've been trying to configure several DOS games (e.g. Descent 1/2 from GOG, as well as MechWarrior 2) to work with my modern-day gamepad under Windows 11 24H2. The games themselves run fine.

Simply put, when I press Ctrl+F1, the Mapper interface doesn't appear. Instead, the game window shrinks and turns black (or if it was in full-screen mode, it shifts to window view). The window size suggests it's 1:1 with the original DOS resolution. Game music and sound may continue playing, but there's nothing else there: just the black window. It seems as if Mapper might actually be running, but there's nothing on my screen to interact with.

Feeling stuck, I clicked the Close button on the window, expecting DOSBox to close. Instead it returned me to the game, right where I left off. Again, to me this suggests Mapper was actually running, but not displaying correctly or interactable. Another thing that's annoying is that sometimes, Mapper does work -- I just don't know why. (Intermittent problems like this really bug me.) I somehow managed to get Descent 2 set up the way I wanted, anyway, but still not Descent 1. I have no idea what made the difference. And since I'm now aware there are source ports, I'll probably go do that instead for those two.

But I'm also having this issue with Mechwarrior 2 launched from Launchbox (REMOVED), and there is no source port available. Other than the Mapper issue, MW2 runs just fine, and I could play with mouse and keyboard if I wanted. I'd also rather run the original game, which works, than mess around with things like MEK Engine or MechVM, but I want to use my gamepad as well.

DOSBox version is ECE r4230. I tried passing the -startmapper command line instead of using the hotkey, but exactly the same thing happened. Any other ideas or suggestions? Thanks in advance!