[2.1.9] Inserter dropping onto curved belt can't be flipped

[Zijkhal]

Inserters on curved belts can't be flipped.PNG (254.91 KiB) Viewed 422 times

When inserters are placing items on a curved belt (see the above screenshot), the inserter drop lane can't be flipped.

I'd expect the inserter drop lane to be flippable the same way as when placing items onto a belt facing towards / away from the inserter.

[Rseding91]

Thanks for the report however this is not a bug. There is no "other option" for the inserter to drop onto: in all cases left/right the lane is always the same - as such - you can't flip them. What you're asking for is near/far lane selection which is not a feature that exists outside of mods.

[Zijkhal]

Thank you for the quick response!

Since the inserter is dropping onto the far side of the belt, it is reasonable to assume that the inserter is dropping onto the portion of the curved belt that is facing away from / towards the inserter, and not on the part that is going parallel to the inserter. From that it would make sense that the inserter would be treated as dropping onto a belt facing towards / away from it. The opposite is counter-intuitive.

I've had a build break due to this, because I added a belt, without touching the inserter, but that added belt changed the drop lane.

Should I make a feature request?

[Filcius]

One thing that bother me in the current behavior, is that you could choose to output on a specific side like this.

07-02-2026, 15-20-50.png (102.01 KiB) Viewed 376 times

Then, event though the belt is still going away from the inserter, the lane side get changed like this :

07-02-2026, 15-21-01.png (150.38 KiB) Viewed 376 times

Showing the arrow on its right side help to understand where the item will be dropped, good job on that, it is definitely an improvement from 2.0. The system may be improved a little bit in this particular scenario, where I suggest to apply the same logic to perpendicular belt, even if a parallel belt is added.

[Zijkhal]

For ease of reference, here is the suggestion thread I posted about this