Libretro: mupen64plus-next Emulator can't get D-Pad to work as Joystick

[Ugikie]

Sorry if this is a commonly asked issue but I have spent days trying to figure it out to no avail. I recently bought an RG35XX-Plus and am trying to play some N64 games on it. I tried using all the available emulators including Libretro: mupen64plus-next and mupen64plus: rice. The issue with Libretro: mupen64plus-next is that the D-Pad does not work as the N64 joystick, so I can't do much in the game (trying to play an n64 rom of super mario 64 - not a port). I switched the emulator/core to mupen64plus: rice, and to my surprise, the joystick issue is fixed. I can fully move around in the game and it works great. The issue with that one is that I am unable to see any of the overlays on the screen like for retroachievements and more importantly, the save state popups (Save State 0 Selected..., etc.)

The overlays work on Libretro: mupen64plus-next, but not with rice, and the D-Pad controls work with rice, but not with m64p-next... so at this point, I feel like its easier to get the controls working as opposed to the overlays with rice, which leads me here. I would really love to figure out how to do this without the use of an external controller, but maybe thats my only option. I'm still really new to this stuff, so its a bit confusing, but I would greatly appreciate any help in figuring it out! Thank you!