Could someone help me with a really bizarre issue I'm experiencing?

I'm playing Kingmaker for the second time. I'm playing with a few mods and using a controller. I can create a character and start a game fine but when I try to load a saved game, the loading bar gets to 100% and...I end up back at the title screen again.

Obviously I thought this was due to an outdated mod, so I've downgraded to 2.1.5 and made sure that all mods are compatible with that version. Still the same issue.

Then I noticed that the game will load if I start with mouse and keyboard. I only have this issue if I try to use a gamepad. Anyone know what's going on here?

I'm creating characters with a mouse and keyboard so that I can select a custom portrait, then attempting to reload with a controller enabled.

I realise I could attempt this without mods but they were the whole point of my second playrhrough.