Run it as an Administrator to ensure it can create the necessary .ini and .dll files.
For troubleshooting "red light" or "grey light" issues typical of this era of the software, users often refer to the official Help/Comments section Are you trying to resolve a specific error or crash with this older version of x360ce?
Games using Easy Anti-Cheat (EAC) or BattlEye may flag x360ce because it injects DLLs. For offline games (Witcher, Dark Souls, emulators), 32981 is perfect. For Call of Duty or Valorant ? Do not risk it.
: Steam now does most of this work automatically.