OK, I'm beginning to understand now. My problems are all coming from the fact that I have joypad encoders in my cab rather than keyboard encoders. The predefined keymaps that Hyperspin now understands (sans xpadder) are so far off as to be unusable (this arcade cab is meant to be easy to use) so I'll have to find some xpadder enabled route or, I guess, ditch Hyperspin.
Now I still have this problem with lack of any control at Hyperspin start when using this script. My main frustration comes from Hyperspins apparent inability to understand even a pretty default game controller without all this help, I mean it's a game launcher for goodness sake
Still, if there's absolutely no way round this control problem but to wait for an update to your wonderful script, I will dutifully do so (though I feel terrible putting the pressure on you when this is all Hyperspins fault). I'm just still wondering if it's my system and if there's anything I've missed.
Heck, would it even be an option for me to have one xpadder profile running all the time in all programs essentially mapping the sticks to the default MAME keys? That way, I probably wouldn't even need this script (?) and I could just remap other emulators to suit. Would that work?