[2.1.8] Inserter output side is shown as "center"

[Filcius]

It seems that the left-right side of inserter output is only shown when a conveyor is built. I don't consider it to be a critical bug, but something that may be improved to display the state of the inserter.

06-26-2026, 08-06-26.png (101.3 KiB) Viewed 318 times

Inserter built first, belt building in progress. Should we know in advance which side will be used?

06-26-2026, 08-07-23.png (132.52 KiB) Viewed 318 times

Surprise! It's the left side. I may have flipped it earlier.

06-26-2026, 08-08-34.png (175.89 KiB) Viewed 318 times

I would prefer the orientation of the inserter no to be hidden, to be more transparent, even in cases it does not make sense.

[boskid]

Not a bug. Center arrow is exactly where inserter wants to drop items, its just that when there is a belt the arrow gets adjusted to show which lane the inserter will actually drop because many players were confused as this situation was ambiguous.

[Filcius]

It was ambiguous. It would be even less ambiguous to know before I build the belt, while still holding the conveyor belt. Should I post this in the suggestion forum as an improvement?

The drilling miner also have the same behavior and could be also improved. I suggest that the arrow for such entities should never be in the middle to display it flipping status.

Before being built:

06-26-2026, 08-20-44.png (304.86 KiB) Viewed 299 times

Only after being built you know if the right or left lane is used.

06-26-2026, 08-20-58.png (252.84 KiB) Viewed 299 times

06-26-2026, 08-21-32.png (244.21 KiB) Viewed 299 times

[boskid]

There is nothing to be changed here. If the arrow was on the side it would be misprepresenting what inserter will do and when belt is placed in an unambiguous configuration then the arrow would have to snap back to be in the center. If you want to consider this as suggestion you can make a separate topic but there is nothing here that is a bug.

[Filcius]

I published this in the suggestion forum : viewtopic.php?t=134360