DeepTip

Explanation windows with depth for Valheim, like the nested tooltips of Paradox games (Crusader Kings III, Victoria 3, Europa Universalis V). Rest the mouse on an item or button: its window opens beside it. Highlighted terms inside open further windows, a click pins a window, and pinned windows contain terms again, so you can read as deep as you like.

DeepTip works on its own and needs only BepInEx. Other mods can add their own explanations, with or without code.

Every feature can be switched off on its own and adjusted in BepInEx/config/gorduan.deeptip.cfg (or any in-game config menu).

What it does

• Valheim's tooltips become DeepTip windows. Inventory, crafting, skills and every other tooltip open next to their element instead of following the mouse. You can move the mouse into them; they stay open on the way.
• Highlighted terms. Known terms in tooltip texts (damage types, status effects, skills, biomes, stats …) are highlighted automatically, in Valheim's texts and in other mods' texts. Hover a term: its explanation opens beside the window. Click: it stays.
• Valheim glossary included, in English and German: damage and resistances, blocking and parrying, stamina, eitr, rested and comfort, food, status effects, all skills, all biomes, crafting stations, durability, carry weight, Forsaken powers, taming and breeding, and help for DeepTip itself.
• Lexicon in the Compendium. A searchable page lists every entry; terms there open windows as well.
• Your language. DeepTip follows Valheim's language. Entries missing in it come from English (then German) and show a small language badge.
• Works with EpicLoot. EpicLoot's item tooltips (scrolling, magic shimmer, comparison) are kept and become DeepTip windows like all others.

Controls

Action	Mouse and keyboard
Open the window of an element	rest the mouse on it (0.5 s), or F1 (opens it pinned)
Preview a term	move the mouse over it
Pin a window	click a term, click inside the window, or the pin button
Close the newest window	Esc (Valheim's menus react to Esc only after the last pinned window is closed)
Close all windows	Shift+Esc or hold Esc
Scroll a long window	mouse wheel over it

On the way into a window it stays open while the mouse moves towards it, and terms you cross on the way do not replace it. Gamepad and touch keep Valheim's normal tooltips in this version.

Settings

Setting	Default	Meaning
General / Enabled	on	DeepTip on or off
General / ValheimTooltips	on	Valheim's tooltips become DeepTip windows (off: vanilla tooltips)
General / AutoLink	on	highlight known terms automatically
Timing / Delay	0.5 s	rest time on an element
Timing / LinkDelay	0.08 s	rest time on a term
Timing / CloseDelay	0.3 s	grace before an unpinned window closes
Timing / LockAfter	0 (off)	timer lock: resting inside a window pins it
Windows / CloseButton, PinButton, Hints, ClickInsidePins	on	window buttons and behaviour
Windows / MaxWidth	420	widest window
Windows / RootSides, TooltipSides, ChildSides		where windows open, in order of preference
Keys / Open, CloseAll	F1, Shift+Esc	keys
Lexicon / Enabled, First	on, on	the lexicon page and its position in the Compendium
Colors / Link, Pinned	gold	colors of terms and pinned frames

Your own texts: put glossary files into BepInEx/config/DeepTip/ (for example de.json); they override every other source.

For mod authors

Without code

Ship one JSON file per language in a folder named deeptip inside your plugin folder, for example BepInEx/plugins/You-YourMod/deeptip/en.json and de.json. DeepTip loads every deeptip folder at start.

{
  "$locale": "en",
  "yourmod.frostbite": {
    "title": "Frostbite",
    "short": "Cold damage over time from the YourMod frost axe.",
    "body": "Deals [[valheim.damage.frost|frost damage]] every second for 5 s. **Fire** removes it.\n\nSee also [[yourmod.frostaxe]].",
    "aliases": ["Frostbite", "frostbitten"]
  }
}

• Keys are dotted, language-neutral names; start them with your mod's name.
• title names the term, short is one line, body is the explanation (2–5 sentences).
• aliases are the words as they appear in game texts; DeepTip highlights their first occurrence in every tooltip.
• Markup: [[key]], [[key|text]], **bold**, *italic*, `code`, {live_value}, lines starting with - , a blank line starts a paragraph. Never HTML.
• Write [[yourmod.frostbite]] into your own item descriptions or tooltips: it becomes a term there too.
• Link to DeepTip's Valheim entries freely, e.g. [[valheim.status.wet]] (see the lexicon for all keys).

The full format is in the DeepTip specification (SPEC.md in the source repository); its validator (tools/deeptip-check.mjs, Node 18+) checks your files.

With code

Reference GC_Valheim_DeepTip.dll (or call it via reflection) and add [BepInDependency("gorduan.deeptip", BepInDependency.DependencyFlags.SoftDependency)].

DeepTip.Api.Register("YourMod", jsonText);              // a glossary from code
DeepTip.Api.RegisterFolder("YourMod", folder);          // all *.json in a folder
DeepTip.Api.Mark(myButton, "yourmod.frostbite");        // resting on your UI element opens the window
DeepTip.Api.SetValue("frost_stacks", () => stacks.ToString()); // {frost_stacks} in texts
DeepTip.Api.Refresh();                                  // re-render open windows after values changed
string tmp = DeepTip.Api.Render("Deals [[valheim.damage.frost]]."); // TextMeshPro rich text with terms
DeepTip.Api.AttachLinks(myTmpText);                     // terms in your own panel open windows
DeepTip.Api.Open("yourmod.frostbite", someRectTransform, pinned: true);

Events: Api.Opened, Api.Closed, Api.Pinned (key), Api.Changed (glossary or language). Everything is safe to call on a dedicated server (no windows there).

License

MIT. Source code: https://github.com/gorduan/Valheim_DeepTip (the DeepTip pattern, its specification and the glossary format: https://github.com/gorduan/DeepTip). Gorduan Community (GC): free for anyone to use, modify and re-upload.

Author: Gorduan.