This is a very brief guide courtesy of the user ‘Paradox’ from Speedrun.com that fixed the issue of the controller not working for me and others. Other guides on here either did not work at all or the buttons failed to work in-game. It’s a very simple and quick fix that requires minimal work. I cannot guarantee it will work for everyone, though.

All you have to do is download a specific Xbox360ce package. And after running it and ensuring your buttons are correct, you only need to copy-paste some text into the .ini file that is created. This text will ensure the inputs will work correctly in-game.

https://www.speedrun.com/static/resource/8wig5.rar?v=4f1f058

This should be enough to address the issue. Should this link no longer work, I will provide specific instructions below.

• Download xbox360ce version 3.2.8.77.
  
• Navigate to your Dead Rising 2 installation.
  
• Extract the x360ce executable to it and run it.
  
• Configure your controls as you would like them or as the default the game uses.
  
• Save the configuration.
  
• Open the x360ce.ini.
  
• Locate the text that says [Input Hook] and below it HookMode=1
  
• Replace the text with the following:

[InputHook]
HookLL=0
HookCOM=1
HookSA=0
HookWT=0
HOOKDI=1
HOOKPIDVID=1
HookName=0
HookMode=0

• Save the document.
  
• Load the game and enable the controller in the PC setting menus.
  
• You are done! Congrats.