Reversed control surfaces operate opposite to manual control

[Galane]

• Bug Report (Something is broken)

KSP and BDA Version

1.3.1

1.0.0

OS / ENVIRONMENT

Windows 10 Pro x64

SUMMARY

With any control surface, elevon, winglet etc. mounted with the normal trailing edge forward, KSP can figure out how to operate them so they move the expected way with manual control.
BDAc AI operates them as though they're on the plane the right way around, which results in control motions opposite to the desired direction. A halfway workaround is to restrict the control surface to one axis then slide the authority to negative numbers - but that causes the opposite problem of it operating backwards for manual flight. Can't put a Standard Canard backwards on the tip of a forward swept wing (to continue the forward sweep line) because BDA will rotate them backwards from how manual control does. An example. https://kerbalx.com/Galane/O-Twisted-FTP-BDA I really wanted those wingtips the other way around.

STEPS TO REPRODUCE

Put some elevons on the front edge of a plane wing. Have the AI attempt to fly it. Giggle as the plane corkscrews out of control. This plane isn't mine but it perfectly illustrates the issue. https://kerbalx.com/dundun93/ASW-X-18M It can take off and climb some, until the first turn. Test manual controls and you'll see the control surfaces move the correct directions.

[Gedas-S]

This is definitely a KSP bug, not a BDA bug.

BDA Pilot AI does not operate any of the control surfaces directly, only provides control input (pitch/yaw/roll). Not much we can do about KSP operating control surfaces wrong. I am pretty sure those planes would behave the same way under, e.g. MechJeb autopilot.

Also, it's not the only place where KSP has inconsistent behaviour with control surfaces - e.g. deploy direction often changes between SPH and flight.