Accatone: It seems that there are other people who are having the same problem. The user tetotaly says that "I use the keyboard settings and map them with Xpadder to my 360 controller... works for me..." Maybe it can work for you too.
http://www.robitstudios.com/treasure-adventure-game-forum/post/1691961 thanks for that.
according that that link, the users pad works for everythng except using the dpad in the game.
my problem is different in that the dpad is the only thing that works and then only on the start menu.
eg. i can move the selector using the dpad but i cant choose new game with the A button or any other button because no other buttons do anything at all when pressed.