Does it show the source code for those projects? And do they read from the CONF array?
But let's get back to this macro expansion thing...
You include a header that defines this:
#define RemoteXY_CONF const PROGMEM RemoteXY_CONF_PROGMEM
Then you declare an array like this:
uint8_t RemoteXY_CONF[] =
{ 255,35,0,10,0,13,3,8,178,4,
131,1,0,57,13,5,1,8,31,77,
Then you read from that array:
colour = pgm_read_byte_near(RemoteXY_CONF[8]);
Note that the macro occurs in both the declaration of the array and in the attempt at reading from it.
Do the macro expansion in the array declaration. In a text editor, not in your head. You will see that it still looks good.
Then do the macro expansion in the colour read part. You should see that it does not look good.
Look at the now macro-expanded array declaration again. You should see what to read from.