How to reproduce the None and _Ext issues:
Here are the port mappings for my "admin" buttons (plus two flippers):
<port number="31" label="VOLUME_DOWN" type="R" inputCodes="NONE"/>
<port number="32" label="VOLUME_DOWN" type="G" inputCodes="NONE"/>
<port number="33" label="VOLUME_DOWN" type="B" inputCodes="NONE"/>
<port number="34" label="EXIT" type="R" inputCodes="KEYCODE_ESC"/>
<port number="35" label="EXIT" type="G" inputCodes="KEYCODE_ESC"/>
<port number="36" label="EXIT" type="B" inputCodes="KEYCODE_ESC"/>
<port number="37" label="VOLUME_UP" type="R" inputCodes="NONE"/>
<port number="38" label="VOLUME_UP" type="G" inputCodes="NONE"/>
<port number="39" label="VOLUME_UP" type="B" inputCodes="NONE"/>
<port number="40" label="SHUT_DOWN" type="R" inputCodes="NONE"/>
<port number="41" label="SHUT_DOWN" type="G" inputCodes="NONE"/>
<port number="42" label="SHUT_DOWN" type="B" inputCodes="NONE"/>
<port number="43" label="FLIPPER_1" type="R" inputCodes="NONE"/>
<port number="44" label="FLIPPER_1" type="G" inputCodes="NONE"/>
<port number="45" label="FLIPPER_1" type="B" inputCodes="NONE"/>
<port number="46" label="FLIPPER_2" type="R" inputCodes="NONE"/>
<port number="47" label="FLIPPER_2" type="G" inputCodes="NONE"/>
<port number="48" label="FLIPPER_2" type="B" inputCodes="NONE"/>
Other than Exit Game (esc), these buttons are only expected to light up during animations (and that's generally the case), as the buttons use mouse clicks, volume and power control. I wouldn't mind making them light up all the time, but apparently that requires customizing the animations. NBD and beside the point.
So, if you use None in your ctrlr or cfg files to un-assign MAME defaults (e.g. left and right arrows for dial inc/dec), LEDBlinky strangely "matches" that None to the NONEs above and all of those buttons blink and announce themselves for whatever you were trying to un-assign. That should be an easy fix.
In my case, again using Tron as an example, the announcement for these "ghost" controls is "Aim Left".
From the same file:
<port number="4" label="P1JOYSTICK" type="R" inputCodes="DOUBLEJOY4WAY|DOUBLEJOY8WAY|DOUBLEJOY2WAY|VDOUBLEJOY2WAY|KEYCODE_UP|KEYCODE_RIGHT|KEYCODE_LEFT|KEYCODE_DOWN"/>
<port number="5" label="P1JOYSTICK" type="G" inputCodes="DOUBLEJOY2WAY|VDOUBLEJOY2WAY|DOUBLEJOY4WAY|DOUBLEJOY8WAY|KEYCODE_DOWN|KEYCODE_UP|KEYCODE_RIGHT|KEYCODE_LEFT"/>
<port number="6" label="P1JOYSTICK" type="B" inputCodes="DOUBLEJOY2WAY|VDOUBLEJOY2WAY|DOUBLEJOY4WAY|DOUBLEJOY8WAY|KEYCODE_UP|KEYCODE_DOWN|KEYCODE_LEFT|KEYCODE_RIGHT"/>
Now, if there is no DIAL_EXT defined in the ctrlr or cfg files AND there is a lighted control on the CP that uses KEYCODE_RIGHT, it will blink and announce as "Aim Right". You can imagine the confusion of these two together (5 buttons for Aim Left that have nothing to do with the spinner and, for example, the player 1 joystick claiming to be Aim Right).
As noted previously, there are workarounds for both of these. I imagine the None issue is universal, but don't yet know if the _EXT issue affects paddles, pedals, AD sticks, etc. Will check those next...
As for dials, at least for my setup, I don't see any harm in just removing every DIAL and DIAL_EXT entry from controls.ini. Those would only be needed if using a light up spinner or allowing inc/dec (digital to analog) on the CP (e.g. buttons to do what the spinner handles much better).
And for the None issue, the best workaround I can figure is to remove the NONEs from LEDBlinkyInputMap.xml, replacing them with unused keys (as I had previously done throughout my ctrlr and cfg files). That should stop the incorrect matching of None and NONE.
Ideally, these issues can be addressed in a future release, as the behavior is very confusing and somewhat difficult to diagnose. Have to figure that at least some aspiring users have downloaded and tried this thing over the years, only to give up and not buy it.
Still wondering if the per-game ctrlr definitions will be parsed. If not, that's a much bigger bug than the other two, with dizzying possibilities for incorrect control highlighting and announcements. Will know by the weekend anyway...
EDIT: I figured out that the flippers can be assigned mouse buttons 1 and 2; will have to see if "MOUSE1" works for me, as I don't use multimouse in MAME. For example:
<port type="P1_BUTTON1">
<newseq type="standard">
KEYCODE_LCONTROL OR JOYCODE_1_BUTTON1 OR JOYCODE_5_BUTTON2 OR MOUSECODE_BUTTON1 OR GUNCODE_1_BUTTON1
</newseq>
</port>
Am hopeful that LEDBlinky understands MOUSECODE_BUTTON1 means any mouse or that editing the LEDBlinkyInputMap.xml file to change it to use the generic MOUSECODE_ prefix will work. Hard to say what the UI will show after such an edit, but I'm about done with the UI anyway.
As for the others, the solution is to remove NONE from the inputs in the UI (or the file), which the UI then shows as "none". Yes, NONE and none have very different meanings, with the latter outputting "" for inputs in the XML and the former "NONE", which is then apparently matched up with MAME's None. Very confusing.
Haven't tested yet, but presumably that fixes the NONE problem. I'd recommend taking NONE out of the list of port inputs, as it won't lead to useful results in any case I can think of.
Also, missing pedal 3 in that list, not that it should matter to anyone (who has LED pedals?) Only games I know of that use that control are Hard Drivin' and Race Drivin', but there are likely a few others. The 2011 controls.ini file does not list any of them, which may explain why pedal 3 isn't in the list.