Description
Due to a known problem in Intel® Quartus® Prime Standard and Lite Edition Software versions 18.0 and 18.1, the RPD endianness setting is not properly reflected in the .cof file. It always defaults to little endian.
Resolution
As a workaround, use the command line alternative "quartus_cpf." The syntax of creating a rpd file with a saved *.cof file is as follows:
Execute quartus_cpf -c <cof file name>.cof <rpd file name>.rpd