Factorio Forums

Maybe something like this when placing belts?

I am against this suggestion, because I am against the whole concept of using underground belts as lane splitters. In my opinion, this is an ugly, unintuitive hack.

This "feature" was not originally intended by the devs. It was a bug, but was later declared an "unintended" feature. See the following bug report thread for more information:
viewtopic.php?f=23&t=198 (note: images have been removed from bug report thread)

Although I consider it an important feature to be able to split the individual lanes of a belt, I think that this feature should be integrated into the game some other way, using a different entity (for example a programmable splitter).

This controversial topic has been discussed in the following threads:
viewtopic.php?f=6&t=56248 Shouldn't unmerging a belt be as simple as merging it?
viewtopic.php?f=5&t=48047 Underground belt lane splitting, anyone else hate it?

If the devs decide to keep the current behavior, then I would support your suggestion. My opposition against your suggestion is based solely on the fact that I don't like the whole concept of using an underground belt as a lane splitter.

Tekky wrote:I am against this suggestion, because I am against the whole concept of using underground belts as lane splitters. In my opinion, this is an ugly, unintuitive hack.

Agreed.

IMO we just need a slightly different graphic where the first half of the belt is obviously uncovered, then we get the best of both worlds, it would no longer look ugly (no more ugly that running a belt into the side of a normal belt), and will be intuitive as the belt will look like only half can be used.

If all else fails, then I guess the red line would be a good way to show that one half will be blocked, but if the graphic is designed well enough then it shouldn't be needed.

LukeM wrote:IMO we just need a slightly different graphic where the first half of the belt is obviously uncovered, then we get the best of both worlds, it would no longer look ugly (no more ugly that running a belt into the side of a normal belt), and will be intuitive as the belt will look like only half can be used.

If all else fails, then I guess the red line would be a good way to show that one half will be blocked, but if the graphic is designed well enough then it shouldn't be needed.

Even if the graphics were changed, it still would not make logical sense to use an underground belt (which is supposed to allow belts to cross each other) as a belt lane splitter. The already existing splitter entity would make a lot more sense, especially since it can already be programmed/configured.