Obscure Tooltips

Obscure Tooltips

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Obscure Tooltips

Welcome to the Obscure Tooltips Wiki!

The information provided here is intended to help understand the core concepts of the mod and customize it to your needs.

This wiki is relevant only for version 3.0.0 and above.
Older versions are incomplete and may be unstable.

Core Concept

Obscure Tooltips is a fully data-driven mod with a modular approach to content. Tooltips are built like with a constructor: complex elements combine smaller blocks for flexibility, reusability, and easy customization – you can assemble existing parts or create entirely new ones.

  • The smallest building blocks are Panels, Frames, Slots, Icons, and Effects – JSON files that define how each element looks. These elements are visual definitions only: they don’t know how or where they will be used, only how they appear.

  • These elements are then combined into Styles – JSON files containing references to a Panel, a Frame, and other constituent elements. A Style is also purely descriptive and does not contain application logic.

  • To apply a Style to items, Definitions are used – JSON files that specify a priority, a reference to a Style, and filters determining which items the Style applies to (by ID, tags, rarity, NBT, etc.).

In summary, each layer has a single responsibility: either describing the visual appearance or defining application rules. This separation makes maintaining and scaling your designs straightforward and efficient.

Tooltip Elements

Panels

Panels define the visual background of a tooltip and serve as the foundation for text and other elements.

Resource Pack Directory: assets/<modid>/tooltips/element/panel/

1. Blank Panel

Essentially, it acts as an invisible placeholder.

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{
  "type": "obscure_tooltips:blank"
}

2. Color Rect Panel

A rectangular panel with a border styled after the vanilla design. The gradient palette can be customized for both the panel surface and its border. See Colors for more details.

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{
  "type": "obscure_tooltips:color_rect",
  "background_palette": {
    "top_left": "#f0100010",
    "top_right": "#f0100010",
    "bottom_left": "#f0100010",
    "bottom_right": "#f0100010"
  },
  "border_palette": {
    "top_left": "#505000ff",
    "top_right": "#505000ff",
    "bottom_left": "#5028007f",
    "bottom_right": "#5028007f"
  }
}


Frames

Frames are decorative layers drawn on top of panels in tooltips.

Resource Pack Directory: assets/<modid>/tooltips/element/frame/

1. Blank Frame

Essentially, it acts as an invisible placeholder.

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{
  "type": "obscure_tooltips:blank"
}

2. Nine Sliced Frame

This frame uses a texture divided into 9 sections to automatically stretch and align the corners and edges of the tooltip. You can use the built-in golden_frame.png as a reference for positioning your own textures.

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{
  "type": "obscure_tooltips:nine_sliced",
  "texture_sheet": "obscure_tooltips:textures/gui/golden_frame.png"
}


Slots

Resource Pack Directory: assets/<modid>/tooltips/element/slot/

1. Blank Slot

Essentially, it acts as an invisible placeholder.

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{
  "type": "obscure_tooltips:blank"
}

2. Color Rect Slot

A rectangular panel with a borders.

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{
  "type": "obscure_tooltips:color_rect",
  "borders": "#30ffffff",
  "palette": {
    "top_left": "#20ffffff",
    "top_right": "#20ffffff",
    "bottom_left": "#20ffffff",
    "bottom_right": "#20ffffff"
  }
}


Icons

Resource Pack Directory: assets/<modid>/tooltips/element/icon/

1. Blank Icon

Essentially, it acts as an invisible placeholder.

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{
  "type": "obscure_tooltips:blank"
}

2. Static Icon

See Transform for more details.

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{
  "type": "obscure_tooltips:static",
  "transform": {
    "offset": [ 0.0, 0.0, 0.0 ],
    "scale": 1.0,
    "rotation": 0.0
  }
}

3. Accent Icon

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{
  "type": "obscure_tooltips:accent",
  "transform": {
    "offset": [ 0.0, 0.0, 0.0 ],
    "scale": 1.0,
    "rotation": 0.0
  }
}

4. Accent Spin Icon

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{
  "type": "obscure_tooltips:accent_spin",
  "transform": {
    "offset": [ 0.0, 0.0, 0.0 ],
    "scale": 1.0,
    "rotation": 0.0
  }
}

5. Accent Burst Icon

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{
  "type": "obscure_tooltips:accent_burst",
  "transform": {
    "offset": [ 0.0, 0.0, 0.0 ],
    "scale": 1.0,
    "rotation": 0.0
  }
}


Effects

Resource Pack Directory: assets/<modid>/tooltips/element/effect/

1. Rim Light Effect

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{
  "type": "obscure_tooltips:rim_light",
  "outer_palette": {
    "top_left": "#30f00fff",
    "top_right": "#30f00fff",
    "bottom_left": "#30f00fff",
    "bottom_right": "#30f00fff"
  },
  "inner_palette": {
    "top_left": "#00ff00ff",
    "top_right": "#00ff00ff",
    "bottom_left": "#00ff00ff",
    "bottom_right": "#00ff00ff"
  }
}

2. Ray Glow Effect

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{
  "type": "obscure_tooltips:ray_glow",
  "primary_color": "#fff00fff",
  "secondary_color": "#ffff5e0f"
}

3. Inward Particle Effect

See Particles for more details.

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{
  "type": "obscure_tooltips:inward_particle",
  "particle": {
    "type": "obscure_tooltips:line",
    "center_color": "#80ff80ff",
    "edge_color": "#00aa40aa",
    "transform": {
      "offset": [ 0.0, 0.0, 0.0 ],
      "scale": 1.0,
      "rotation": 0.0
    }
  }
}

4. Icon Particle Effect

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{
  "type": "obscure_tooltips:icon_particle",
  "particle": {
    "type": "obscure_tooltips:texture",
    "texture": "obscure_tooltips:textures/gui/particle/star.png",
    "transform": {
      "offset": [ -0.5, -0.5, 0.0 ],
      "scale": 1.5,
      "rotation": 0.0
    }
  }
}

Tooltip Styles

Style files simply combine elements to define the visual appearance of a style. In the example below, elements are referenced from assets/obscure_tooltips/tooltips/element/<kind>/default.json. Here, <kind> can be panel, frame, slot, icon, etc.

Resource Pack Directory: assets/<modid>/tooltips/style/

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{
  "panel": "obscure_tooltips:default",
  "frame": "obscure_tooltips:default",
  "slot": "obscure_tooltips:default",
  "icon": "obscure_tooltips:default",
  "effects": []
}

Note that all fields except effects are optional. The effects array must always be included, even if it is empty.

Tooltip Definitions

Definition files determine which items a style should apply to, based on the specified filter. In the example below, the style located at assets/obscure_tooltips/tooltips/style/default.json will be applied to all items:

Resource Pack Directory: assets/<modid>/tooltips/definition/

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{
  "priority": 0,
  "style": "obscure_tooltips:default",
  "filter": {
    "type": "obscure_tooltips:always"
  }
}

The priority field is used in the style merging system.

Style Merging (Fallback)

A key feature of Obscure Tooltips is the style merging system. When an item matches multiple Definition files, the styles from these definitions are combined according to the following rules:

  1. The style with the highest priority becomes the base.
  2. Any empty fields (i.e., Optional elements not defined) in this base style are filled in from the next style in priority. This process continues through all matching styles, in order of priority.
  3. The effect lists from all styles are merged together.

Why is this useful?

Suppose you create a default.json definition with minimal priority, fill in all style elements (panel, frame, slots, icons, etc.), and set its filter to obscure_tooltips:always. This style will apply to all items by default.

Next, you create an enchanted.json definition for enchanted items, assign a style with a fancy frame and glow effects, but leave other elements (like the panel) empty. You set a higher priority and a filter for enchanted items only.

Now:

  • All items will use default.json as their base style.
  • Enchanted items will override the base frame and gain the additional glow effect from enchanted.json.
  • Any undefined style fields in enchanted.json will fall back to the corresponding fields in default.json.

This system allows you to layer styles, avoid repetition, and easily create complex tooltip designs that automatically adapt to different item types.

Tooltip Filters

Filters are not registered as separate files – instead, they are written inline wherever they are needed:

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"filter": {
  "type": "obscure_tooltips:always"
}

Although filter fields are not arrays, you can still combine multiple filters using the aggregate types all_of, any_of, and none_of:

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"filter": {
  "type": "obscure_tooltips:all_of",
  "terms": [
    {
      "type": "obscure_tooltips:<first_filter>"
    },
    {
      "type": "obscure_tooltips:<second_filter>"
    }
  ]
}

You can also nest aggregate filters inside one another to create more advanced filtering logic.


1. Always Filter

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"filter": {
  "type": "obscure_tooltips:always"
}

2. Never Filter

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"filter": {
  "type": "obscure_tooltips:never"
}

3. All Of Filter

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"filter": {
  "type": "obscure_tooltips:all_of",
  "terms": []
}

4. Any Of Filter

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"filter": {
  "type": "obscure_tooltips:any_of",
  "terms": []
}

5. None Of Filter

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"filter": {
  "type": "obscure_tooltips:none_of",
  "terms": []
}

6. Item Or Tag Filter

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"filter": {
  "type": "obscure_tooltips:item",
  "values": [
    "minecraft:apple",
    "#minecraft:planks"
  ]
}

7. Mod Filter

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"filter": {
  "type": "obscure_tooltips:mod",
  "mods": [
    "minecraft",
    "aquamirae"
  ]
}

8. Enchantment Filter

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"filter": {
  "type": "obscure_tooltips:enchantment",
  "any_enchantment": true,
  "any_curse": true,
  "enchantments": [
    "Minecraft:fire_aspect"
  ]
}

9. Rarity Filter

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"filter": {
  "type": "obscure_tooltips:rarity",
  "rarity": "epic"
}

10. NBT Filter

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"filter": {
  "type": "obscure_tooltips:nbt",
  "nbt": "{test_tag:{sub_tag:1}}"
}

11. Property Filter

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"filter": {
  "type": "obscure_tooltips:property",
  "has_foil": true
}

Tooltip Labels

Label files define the additional line of text displayed beneath an item’s name. Using providers, labels can display the item’s rarity or custom text. If an item matches multiple label definitions, the one with the highest priority is applied.

Resource Pack Directory: assets/<modid>/tooltips/label/

For example, the following file will display the rarity label for all items:

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{
  "priority": 0,
  "provider": {
    "type": "obscure_tooltips:rarity"
  },
  "filter": {
    "type": "obscure_tooltips:always"
  }
}


1. Rarity Label Provider

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"provider": {
  "type": "obscure_tooltips:rarity"
}

2. Literal Label Provider

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"provider": {
  "type": "obscure_tooltips:literal",
  "text": "Some Text"
}

3. Translatable Label Provider

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"provider": {
  "type": "obscure_tooltips:translatable",
  "key": "label.my_mod.some_text"
}

Miscellaneous

Colors

Whenever you need to define a color, you can use one of the following formats:

  • Hexadecimal (ARGB) – a string in the form #AARRGGBB
  • Decimal (ARGB) — a 32-bit unsigned integer value
  • Normalized float array (ARGB) — an array of four values in the range 0.0–1.0, representing [Alpha, Red, Green, Blue]
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{
  "color": "#ffffffff",
  "color": 4294967295,
  "color": [ 1.0, 1.0, 1.0, 1.0 ]
}

Transform

The transform object is always optional. If omitted, default values are used. Each property inside transform is also optional and will fall back to its own default.

  • offset — a 3D vector [x, y, z] that shifts the object’s position
  • scale — a uniform scale factor (default: 1.0)
  • rotation — a rotation angle in degrees (default: 0.0)
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"transform": {
  "offset": [ 0.0, 0.0, 0.0 ],
  "scale": 1.0,
  "rotation": 0.0
}

Particles

Particles are used by certain effects. There are multiple particle types available:

1. Line Particle

A horizontal line one pixel thick, with a gradient fading toward the center.

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"particle": {
  "type": "obscure_tooltips:line",
  "center_color": "#ffffffff",
  "edge_color": "#00ffffff",
  "transform": {}
}

2. Texture Particle

A particle rendered from a square texture. Any 1:1 resolution texture can be used, but with the default scale it is treated as having a virtual size of 16x16 pixels.

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"particle": {
  "type": "obscure_tooltips:texture",
  "texture": "obscure_tooltips:textures/gui/particle/star.png",
  "transform": {}
}

Example Usage

To see all features in action, check out the built-in Obscuria Tooltips resource pack.

Overriding

If you want to completely disable the built-in tooltips from the mod, you can override the Obscure Tooltips definition files in your resource pack. Just follow the standard Minecraft resource override rules and apply the obscure_tooltips:never filter. This ensures that none of the default styles will ever be applied to any item.

Hotswap

While developing a resource pack, you can quickly reload your changes in-game by pressing F3 + T inside a Minecraft world.

Any Questions?

Join my Discord Server or ask your question in the comments at the bottom of this page.