HUDTooltips is a refined, animated HUD panel that displays the full tooltip of your held item directly on screen.

HUDTooltips brings both vanilla and modded tooltips into view without having to open your inventory, whilst maintaining a clean, minimal, and premium aesthetic.

Overview

HUDTooltips adds a bottom-left tooltip panel that shows the complete tooltip of the item you are currently holding and disappears after 1 second (can be changed in config). Works with Texture Packs!

The panel is:

Smoothly animated
Category-based (different themes for different item types)
Fully configurable and customizable
Lightweight and modpack-friendly

The goal is simple: make tooltips accessible at all times, but in a way that feels native and polished.

Armor default color is Light Blue:

Tools default color is Red:

Blocks default color is Blue:

Enchanted Books default color is Purple:

Items default color is Green:

Potions default color is Magenta:

Food default color is Yellow:

What It Does

When enabled (Default "H" key to enable), HUDTooltips renders a glass-style tooltip panel that includes:

The item name
All standard tooltip lines
Advanced tooltip data (if F3 + H is enabled)
Modded tooltip lines

The panel automatically adapts its theme based on the item category.

It grows upward from the bottom-left corner and avoids overlapping important UI elements.

Category-Based Theming

HUDTooltips automatically detects item type and adjusts the visual styling accordingly.

Current supported categories:

Blocks
Tools and weapons
Food
Generic items
Potions (regular, splash, lingering)
Enchanted books
Armor

Each category has:

A unique accent color
A custom background gradient
Subtle glow and highlight effects

All values and colors are configurable in the client config file.

Modded items are supported automatically using vanilla item classes and common tags.

Customization and Perfomance

All settings are available in:

config/hudtooltips-client.toml

List of Configurations available:

General

Option	Default	Description
`held_tooltip.enabled`	`true`	Master toggle for the overlay. Can be toggled in-game and persists.
autoDismissTicks	20	How many ticks the held tooltip stays visible before auto-hiding. Set to 0 to never auto-hide (always show while held).

Placement

Option	Default	Description
`anchor`	`BOTTOM_LEFT`	Corner of the screen the overlay attaches to. Options: `BOTTOM_LEFT`, `BOTTOM_RIGHT`, `TOP_LEFT`, `TOP_RIGHT`
`offsetX`	`6`	Horizontal offset from the anchor (pixels).
`offsetY`	`0`	Vertical offset from the anchor (pixels).
`margin`	`6`	Minimum distance from screen edges (pixels).
`reservedBottom`	`26`	Space reserved for the hotbar (bottom anchors only).

Sizing

Option	Default	Description
`scale`	`1.0`	True overlay scale. Scales panel, icon, and text uniformly.
`maxWidth`	`190`	Maximum unscaled overlay width before wrapping tooltip text.

Header Layout

Option	Default	Description
`titleLayout`	`RIGHT_OF_ICON`	Title layout: `RIGHT_OF_ICON`, `ABOVE_ICON`, `TITLE_ONLY`
`showIcon`	`true`	Whether to display the held item icon.
`iconSide`	`LEFT`	Icon position when `RIGHT_OF_ICON` layout is used (`LEFT` or `RIGHT`).
`iconSize`	`16`	Icon size in pixels.
`padding`	`5`	Inner padding around panel content.
`headerTopPadding`	`3`	Extra space at top of header area (prevents overlap feel).
`iconTitleGap`	`5`	Gap between icon and title (prevents overlap).
`titleYOffset`	`0`	Fine-tune title vertical position.
`iconYOffset`	`0`	Fine-tune icon vertical position.

Content Limits

Option	Default	Description
`maxTitleLines`	`2`	Maximum title lines (0 = unlimited).
`maxBodyLines`	`0`	Maximum wrapped body lines (0 = unlimited).
`maxTotalLines`	`0`	Maximum total lines (title + body) (0 = unlimited).
`showEllipsisLine`	`true`	Adds `...` line when content is truncated.

Render Layers

Option	Default	Description
`shadow`	`true`	Enables soft drop shadow layers.
`sheen`	`true`	Enables animated highlight sheen effect.
`gradientBackground`	`true`	Uses themed gradient background instead of solid fill.

Opacity (0–255)

Option	Default	Description
`panel`	`86`	Panel background opacity.
`shadow`	`56`	Shadow opacity.
`border`	`70`	Border opacity.
`accent`	`130`	Accent strip opacity.
`sheen`	`22`	Sheen highlight opacity.

Performance

Designed specifically for large modpacks.

Option	Default	Description
`refreshUntaggedMs`	`600`	Refresh interval (ms) for items without NBT tags.
`refreshTaggedMs`	`2000`	Refresh interval (ms) for tagged items (most modded items).
`buildVisibleThreshold`	`0.12`	Tooltip only rebuilds when overlay is at least this visible (0–1).

🔹 Increasing refreshTaggedMs improves FPS in heavy modpacks.
🔹 Lowering it makes tooltips update more responsively.

Accent Colors (RGB)

Each category has its own accent color.

Category	Default
Blocks	`0x4E86FF`
Tools	`0xFF5A6B`
Foods	`0xFFC44D`
Items	`0x53D18C`
Potions	`0xD26BFF`
Enchanted Books	`0x8B6CFF`
Armor	`0x6BD6C8`

Background Gradient Colors (Per Category)

Each category has a themed top + bottom gradient color.

Example (Blocks):

blocksTop = 0x121E36
blocksBottom = 0x070B14

Each category has:

Top
Bottom

For:

Blocks
Tools
Foods
Items
Potions
Enchanted Books
Armor

Example Presets

Minimal Performance Mode

shadow = false
sheen = false
gradientBackground = false
refreshTaggedMs = 4000

Clean Vanilla-Like Mode

titleLayout = RIGHT_OF_ICON
iconSide = LEFT
scale = 1.0
padding = 4
headerTopPadding = 2
iconTitleGap = 4

Stream / Large UI Mode

scale = 1.4
maxWidth = 260

The overlay is designed to be fully customizable for modpacks, including layout, scaling, performance behavior, and full color theming.

FAQ

Does this require server installation?
No. It is entirely client-side.

Does this give gameplay advantages?
No. It only displays tooltip information that already exists in vanilla.

Does it work with modded items?
Yes. It uses vanilla detection and common tags, so most modded items are categorized automatically.

Can I change the colors?
Yes. Every category color and gradient is configurable in the client config file.

Will this affect performance?
No measurable impact. Rendering is minimal and event-driven.

Should I share this mod with others?

Of course you should! I might even give you a cookie for it who knows..

Design Philosophy

HUDTooltips is designed to feel like a built-in feature, I built this mod because I honestly grew tired of having to open my inventory every single time I picked up an item to see what it was.

Patreon

Feeling generous? All the work I do is entirely for the community, so as a college student everybody's support would mean the world to me!

Patreon