update! if i start up magic dosbox in portrait orientation, the stick works fine??? but then stops working if i rotate my phone to landscape mode at any point. wacky!
edit: ok landscape mode with the bottom of the phone (the one with the back/home/whatever buttons) on the RIGHT seems to work fine, as does switching between phone upright portrait and that. the stick stops working when i rotate the phone to have the bottom on the LEFT, and remains nonworking until i restart. i haven’t tried with the phone upside down. well, i guess i can still play wing commander if i sacrifice easy access to the volume buttons! what a bizarre bug.