Unable to select any main menu items in 1.8

[VanguardFed]

Whenever I boot the game, the cursor indicates my clicks, and if I click on a menu item then it darkens as if I've selected it, but there is no other response.
If I attempt to use the arrow keys and enter button, then the menu item remains dark, and I can move it to another item, but no other response occurs

I have uninstalled and reinstalled the game, verified local files several times, tried removing my joystick and hand-on-thrust, and updated graphics driver.

The only way that I am able to play the game is if I revert to 1.7.3, where everything works normally.

 

The game is the Steam version, running on 64-bit Windows

GTX 970 GPU, 3.6 GHz i7-3820, 24gb RAM

Edited December 2, 2019 by VanguardFed