Factorio Forums

I've been running into this issue recently. When placing belts over ghosts, the underground belts will place the first underground, not place the second (with the ghost still there) and then continue placing regular belts. I don't think its intended and I'm not sure it was happening prior to 2.0/Space Age.

I attached a video showing it in action.

As of 2.0.39 this still exists.

Running 2.0.39 (build 81895 expansion, linux64) {Reproducible in a few earlier versions on Windows, and with the Steam version for Linux and Windows, though not tested in 2.0.39 in other platforms.}

A practice I have for building a smelter collection has a cross-belt for the coal. I place the print, as many times as needed, and fill in the 'intricate' section at the top and then run the coal belt across. I don't know when it quit working, but it's been a few versions now and still in 2.0.39.
The direction of drag does matter. The first underground encountered (or needed) is placed, and facing the correct direction. The second underground is left as a ghost. Dragging the "flow" direction, the entrance is placed and the exit is a ghost. If dragging in reverse the exit is placed and the entrance is a ghost

The simple print to demonstrate with: Filling in the excess first: Running the coal belt forward: Running the coal belt in reverse: