Unlike the first two games in the triple pack, the third entry is now throwing a selfish fit by refusing to keep hold of the commands I have saved in the keymapper file. That file itself isn't the problem, but every time I boot the game up I have to reassign the keys with its existing menu, all over again.

I swear, I have had so many problems with these downloads, and it makes me glad I only paid $6...because any more would've been foolish on my part in retrospect. If anyone can help me solve this problem, I'd once again be grateful. Thanks.

Make the file read only.

Or maybe the mapper file was in read-only ?

I just tried MK3 and the mapper file mapper.txt in the game folder is modified normally. Are you sure you didn't mess up with the mapper file modification ? Maybe dosbox decided to reset it if it found is was incorrect ?

This mapper file has been modified, so what's the problem ?

Quit dosbox. Launch the game again, open the mapper. Modify a setting. Click save and exit. Quit the game.

What's the modification date of the mapper.txt ? Is it the current time ? If yes, it worked.



By comparison, here is the default mapper.txt that the dosbox bundled with MK3 creates :

hand_shutdown "key 290 mod1"
hand_capmouse "key 291 mod1"
hand_fullscr "key 13 mod2"
hand_pause "key 19 mod2"
hand_mapper "key 282 mod1"
hand_speedlock "key 293 mod2"
hand_recwave "key 287 mod1"
hand_caprawmidi "key 289 mod1 mod2"
hand_scrshot "key 286 mod1"
hand_video "key 286 mod1 mod2"
hand_decfskip "key 288 mod1"
hand_incfskip "key 289 mod1"
hand_cycledown "key 292 mod1"
hand_cycleup "key 293 mod1"
hand_caprawopl "key 288 mod1 mod2"
hand_swapimg "key 285 mod1"
key_esc "key 27"
key_f1 "key 282"
key_f2 "key 283"
key_f3 "key 284"
key_f4 "key 285"
key_f5 "key 286"
key_f6 "key 287"
key_f7 "key 288"
key_f8 "key 289"
key_f9 "key 290"
key_f10 "key 291"
key_f11 "key 292"
key_f12 "key 293"
key_grave "key 96"
key_1 "key 49"
key_2 "key 50"
key_3 "key 51"
key_4 "key 52"
key_5 "key 53"
key_6 "key 54"
key_7 "key 55"
key_8 "key 56"
key_9 "key 57"
key_0 "key 48"
key_minus "key 45"
key_equals "key 61"
key_bspace "key 8"
key_tab "key 9"
key_q "key 113"
key_w "key 119"
key_e "key 101"
key_r "key 114"
key_t "key 116"
key_y "key 121"
key_u "key 117"
key_i "key 105"
key_o "key 111"
key_p "key 112"
key_lbracket "key 91"
key_rbracket "key 93"
key_enter "key 13"
key_capslock "key 301"
key_a "key 97"
key_s "key 115"
key_d "key 100"
key_f "key 102"
key_g "key 103"
key_h "key 104"
key_j "key 106"
key_k "key 107"
key_l "key 108"
key_semicolon "key 59"
key_quote "key 39"
key_backslash "key 92"
key_lshift "key 304"
key_lessthan "key 60"
key_z "key 122"
key_x "key 120"
key_c "key 99"
key_v "key 118"
key_b "key 98"
key_n "key 110"
key_m "key 109"
key_comma "key 44"
key_period "key 46"
key_slash "key 47"
key_rshift "key 303"
key_lctrl "key 306"
key_lalt "key 308"
key_space "key 32"
key_ralt "key 307"
key_rctrl "key 305"
key_printscreen "key 316"
key_scrolllock "key 302"
key_pause "key 19"
key_insert "key 277"
key_home "key 278"
key_pageup "key 280"
key_delete "key 127"
key_end "key 279"
key_pagedown "key 281"
key_up "key 273"
key_left "key 276"
key_down "key 274"
key_right "key 275"
key_numlock "key 300"
key_kp_divide "key 267"
key_kp_multiply "key 268"
key_kp_minus "key 269"
key_kp_7 "key 263"
key_kp_8 "key 264"
key_kp_9 "key 265"
key_kp_plus "key 270"
key_kp_4 "key 260"
key_kp_5 "key 261"
key_kp_6 "key 262"
key_kp_1 "key 257"
key_kp_2 "key 258"
key_kp_3 "key 259"
key_kp_enter "key 271"
key_kp_0 "key 256"
key_kp_period "key 266"
jbutton_0_0 "stick_0 button 0"
jbutton_0_1 "stick_0 button 1"
jaxis_0_1- "stick_0 axis 1 0"
jaxis_0_1+ "stick_0 axis 1 1"
jaxis_0_0- "stick_0 axis 0 0"
jaxis_0_0+ "stick_0 axis 0 1"
jbutton_1_0 "stick_1 button 0"
jbutton_1_1 "stick_1 button 1"
jbutton_0_2 "stick_0 button 2"
jbutton_0_3 "stick_0 button 3"
jaxis_1_0- "stick_1 axis 0 0"
jaxis_1_0+ "stick_1 axis 0 1"
jaxis_1_1- "stick_1 axis 1 0"
jaxis_1_1+ "stick_1 axis 1 1"
jaxis_0_2-
jaxis_0_2+
jaxis_0_3-
jaxis_0_3+
jbutton_0_4 "stick_0 button 4"
jbutton_0_5 "stick_0 button 5"
jhat_0_0_0 "stick_0 hat 0 1"
jhat_0_0_3 "stick_0 hat 0 8"
jhat_0_0_2 "stick_0 hat 0 4"
jhat_0_0_1 "stick_0 hat 0 2"
mod_1 "key 306" "key 305"
mod_2 "key 308" "key 307"
mod_3

Of course the default settings of the keymapper are modified; that happens whenever you assign controller buttons to the default keyboard commands and then save the file. I did that deliberately, because I want to play the game with my USB controller. That's not the core of the problem.

What keeps happening is that there seems to be an aspect of the game's actual configuration file, that ignores certain aspects of the keymapper...and for the life of me, I can't figure out the solution. When I boot the game up, it asks me to press the ESC key if I don't have an arcade joystick, so I do, and then the game goes into the automatic opening. If I press any buttons on my controller, it takes me to the character select screen instead of the main menu, so I have to press ESC again to reach that screen.

Once there, I have to use the arrow keys on my keyboard (the game won't recognize my D-pad at this point), and navigate to the part marked as "Define Keyboard" (see attached image link below).

In this section, I use the arrow and Return keys to activate each relevant action on the left side, and press the controller buttons I want to use for each one. After that, I press "Accept These Settings", and the game works just fine...until I shut it off. After that, it makes me do the whole damn thing all over again, which is frustrating beyond reason. Can anybody help me with this? I'm clueless and beyond impatient at this point.