Hey everyone!

It has been a packed stretch since the April update. What started as a focused round of HyperOverlay, save management, and cabinet polish turned into a much wider push across the full HyperSpin 2 ecosystem: HyperHQ, HyperSpin, HyperOverlay, HyperMarquee, HyperTheme, HyperList, online services, and the plugin stack.

The big news: the HyperSpin 2 beta is opening up to everyone.

We're still calling it a beta because there are still rough edges to work through, but we're far enough along now that it makes sense to bring in more testers. More setups, more cabinets, more controllers, more emulators, and more strange edge cases are exactly what we need. That's how we get from "works on our machines" to something that holds up for the community.

Let's dive in!

Beta Opening Up

Until now, access has been more limited while we worked through some of the bigger pieces. That is changing. HyperSpin 2 is moving into a broader open beta phase, and the goal is to get more real-world feedback across different hardware, display layouts, emulator collections, and library sizes.

• The beta is opening to all users, not just the early Platinum testing group
• HyperHQ has gone through a long run of beta builds and is now in the v2.0.270+ range
• HyperSpin has moved through v2.0.95, with major fixes for runtime behavior, overlays, themes, and marquees
• HyperOverlay is live and has moved through v1.4.9
• HyperMarquee, HyperTheme, HyperList, plugins, and online services have all had meaningful updates

HyperOverlay Is Live

Back in the April update, HyperOverlay was still in the "coming soon" bucket. Since then, it has gone through several releases and is now live. A lot of the work has been about making launches, pause screens, manuals, media, save access, and exits feel like they belong inside HyperSpin instead of feeling like a jump between separate tools.

• HyperOverlay is live for Windows and has moved through v1.4.9
• Pause menu behavior, launch handoff, exit transitions, focus release, and controller timing have all been tightened up
• MAME launch and exit behavior has improved, including fixes for the overlay staying in the right place
• Manual viewing, media browsing, and save-management access are easier to reach from inside the overlay
• Rendering performance, startup/shutdown behavior, controller timing, and logging are more stable
• HyperHQ now has settings for starting, stopping, and configuring HyperOverlay more easily
  
  

HyperMarquee Updates

HyperMarquee has had its own round of cleanup so it behaves better as part of the full cabinet stack.

• New background video support gives HyperMarquee another way to bring motion to marquee screens, including fallback videos when dedicated marquee media is not available
• Stretch mode and missing-media fallback behavior are more reliable
• HyperMarquee now coordinates better with HyperHQ and HyperSpin when the host app closes
• Display selection, always-on-top behavior, and debug logging have been cleaned up
• Work moved forward for multiple and remote HyperMarquee connections, including remote media delivery for networked marquee setups
     

HyperTheme and Theme Publishing

HyperTheme also had a lot of work this stretch. Some of it is visual polish, but a lot of it came from real import, editing, publishing, and download issues.

• HyperTheme received a broader visual refresh that lines up more closely with the HyperHQ style
• The builder/editor picked up improvements for media editing, published-theme details, system/game picking, aspect ratio badges, layer rename/refresh behavior, and artwork replacement
• Import validation, layered artwork handling, layer ordering, missing-data cases, and animation edge cases were tightened up
• Published theme downloads, missing zip backfill, download counters, and failure reporting received fixes so publish results are more honest and useful
• Theme search now handles partial names, project names, pagination, sorting, public filtering, and safer descriptions more reliably
• Remixes now default to private, reducing accidental public publishing while people are still editing
• The HyperTheme assistant/chat flow is now safer and more reliable
  
  

Dynamic System Intro Videos

HyperSpin can now generate system intro videos automatically, giving each system a fresh intro sequence when you enter it. Instead of seeing the same static transition every time, systems can feel more alive and a little different from visit to visit.
   

HyperHQ Library Management

HyperHQ has picked up a lot of practical depth. This is the kind of work that makes a library feel more complete after the first import is done.

Related games are a good example of where that is going. The goal is to make game details feel less like a single database record and more like a useful browsing path through your collection, so sequels, series entries, alternate versions, companion titles, and similar games can surface naturally while you are deciding what to play next.

• Direct executable Applications are now supported, with cleaner add/edit screens and the ability to place apps directly on the wheel
• Game detail pages now support per-game notes, including a fullscreen editor for longer notes
• Playtime tracking has been added so sessions can be reflected more accurately
• Manuals can open in an interactive flip-book style viewer, with better thumbnail handling for archived manuals
• Related games now appear in the game detail flow, helping users jump between connected titles, discover nearby games in their own library, and keep exploring without backing out to search every time
• Critic-rating plugin data can now flow into HyperHQ and be saved after enrichment
• Media delete progress, queued download refreshes, media override folders, and video-theme support have all improved
• Metadata lock controls were added so users can protect data they do not want overwritten by future refreshes
  
  

Save Management and Safer Sessions

Save management has been one of the biggest foundations added since the last public update. The goal is simple: make emulator saves easier to protect, browse, back up, and restore without turning it into a scary file-management chore.

• HyperHQ now has the foundation for browsing, backing up, restoring, and retaining emulator saves
• Save restore flows are built for safer recovery cases, including backup-only saves when the live save is missing
• Emulator-aware save support has expanded, including more coverage for systems and emulator paths
• Switch save-management coverage has started landing
• Save refreshes and restore history handling are better guarded against stale UI state
• Save confirmation and related game-action flows have been cleaned up so important actions are clearer

Cabinet, Controller, and Input Work

We've also been pushing HyperHQ and HyperSpin closer to something that feels natural from a cabinet, couch, spinner, gamepad, or keyboard instead of assuming everyone has the same perfect setup.

• HyperHQ now has a controller-driven navigation foundation across the interface
• Controller input, controller identity handling, duplicate controller detection, and player-scoped bindings all received fixes
• Spinner axis controls, spinner mappings, and trackball X-axis support have moved forward
• Escape, back, in-app navigation, and close-emulator actions are separated more cleanly now
• Attract-mode timeout and volume behavior have been refined for cabinet setups
• HyperHQ can now launch HyperSpin from a global keyboard or controller action
• Windows startup options were added for HyperHQ and HyperSpin
• HyperHQ now handles system sleep/wake more gracefully, including pause/resume behavior and cloud reconnect on wake

Imports, Launching, and Platform Setup

A lot of recent work has focused on the messy real-world stuff: odd ROM names, missing emulator paths, older media records, platform-specific launch quirks, and imports that need better matching.

• Manual MAME-name imports are now available for adding specific machines by name
• MAME metadata handling, arcade filtering, custom ROM filename matching, and release discovery have all improved
• Steam imports and media sync are more reliable, with fixes for duplicate syncs, media references, launch timeouts, and account-based launches from HyperSpin
• Pinball FX setup, manual import behavior, table path fallback, and game-selection flows have all received work
• Xbox 360 import support moved forward, including default.xex and Games on Demand handling
• Vita3K launch/config handling and clearer missing-mapping errors received fixes
• CXBX-Reloaded support moved forward for another Xbox-family emulator path
• BIOS detection and emulator auto-detection are smarter during system setup
• Manual emulator path selection was added for cases where auto-detection is not enough

HyperList Updates

HyperList is getting more attention too, especially around admin editing and keeping metadata fresher.

• Game edit flows now have better delete and context actions
• A file-name column toggle was added for game lists
• Metadata refresh actions were added to game editing
• Theme credits quick-edit and deletion UI work moved forward
• Theme entity repair and admin assignment flows were improved
• HyperList received a HyperHQ-style visual refresh, mobile improvements, refreshed tabs, type-mapping cleanup, and emulator-management polish

Localization and Global UI Groundwork

We also started laying the foundation for proper localization. It is not the flashiest thing in screenshots, but it matters if HyperSpin is going to feel right for more users around the world.

• A large amount of interface text has been prepared for translation across settings, systems, games, emulators, media, plugins, startup, login, and license flows
• Language selection and persistence groundwork has been added
• Early translation work has started for several major languages
• Right-to-left layout groundwork has started for languages such as Urdu and Arabic

Fixes & Cleanup

A huge thank you to everyone testing, reporting bugs, sending screenshots, and throwing unusual setups at us. A lot of the fixes above came directly from real cabinets and real collections doing real-world things, which is exactly what this beta needs.

Stay awesome,
-fr0stbyt3