It's been a while, but thanks for the update! I can confirm the issue is solved, for my joysticks at least.
Please note these are proper arcade sticks and VERY recommended for this kind of game. Definitively not console-type gamepads, thumbsticks, D-pads and whatnot. Couple of examples (not the ones I'm using):
https://www.immortaljoysticks.co.uk/
https://monsterjoysticks.com/
More available. 馃槈
itchtoplay
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Found a nice workaround: JoyToKey. It allows game controllers to emulate keyboard input (or mouse), so it was easy to assign the keys Blastaway uses to my joysticks. It recognised all my 3 USB devices. Well worth the $7 asking price.
Alternatives: Xpadder (couldn't find a test version so I didn't try it) and InputMapper (seemed a bit complicated so I didn't try it).
So... I can now finally start playing Blastaway!
Sent you an email. I thought so too about calibration but as mentioned, every once in a while at least one of these joysticks "loses it" and stops working. Re-calibrating makes it work again. The 're-calibration' process of course is just moving the stick into all 8 directions and pressing a button. I agree it shouldn't be necessary but I'm guessing the USB conversion/emulation is dodgy, since these aren't really "native" USB devices.
Thanks. They are simple joystick/gamepads (8-direction arcade stick and a few buttons). No analog shaft/control etc. and no Competition Pro. Two of them are connected via 9-pin (Atari-type) to USB adapters. The third has a direct USB cable. They have no configuration options. I can only see them in the "Setup USB game controllers" section where simple test/calibration settings are available. I cannot really change anything there.
I tried disconnecting them, and restart Blastaway with only one connected but nothing changed. Perhaps the installer version might give a better "integration" with Windows, or I'd get the same result?