I also encountered this error, and unplugging controllers doesn't help. In fact it happens when i don't even have any controllers connected in the first place, and the only one i have installed is an xbox one which shouldn't even work with this game without other fixes in the first place. I tried to use that dinput8.dll fix that was originally made for FEAR to filter out devices that might be causing this, but it just blocks all keyboard and mouse input so it doesn't really help either. It would be nice if someone could look further into this.
BTW Even with SilentPatch there are serious and common fps drops in this game on my AMD 3600 + GTX 1660S config with 1080p 60hz 8x AA 16x AF even though it can run newer games like Mafia DE with the same settings perfectly fine, but I guess it's just the game being poorly coded in the first place.