Building a roblox custom tooltip system script is one of those small details that makes your game feel way more polished than the average hobby project. Let's be honest: the default way Roblox handles tooltips (or the lack thereof for most UI elements) is pretty underwhelming. If you want your players to know what a weird-looking potion does or what a specific stat means without cluttering the entire screen, you need a system that's snappy, looks good, and actually follows the mouse around.
I've spent plenty of hours messing around with UI layouts, and the biggest headache is always getting the positioning right. You don't want the tooltip flickering or getting cut off at the edge of the screen. So, let's walk through how to put together a system that's modular, clean, and easy to drop into any project you're working on.
Getting the UI foundations ready
Before we even touch a script, we need something to actually show the player. You'll want to head into your StarterGui and create a ScreenGui. I usually name this something like "TooltipGui." Inside that, you'll need a Frame. This frame is going to be your actual tooltip box.
Make sure you set the Visible property of this frame to false by default. Nothing is more annoying than a random white box stuck in the middle of the screen when a game starts. Inside that frame, throw in a TextLabel. This is where your descriptions will live.
One little trick I've learned: use a UIListLayout or UIPadding inside the frame. It makes everything look a lot more professional without you having to manually pixel-perfect every single label. Also, set the ZIndex of the whole TooltipGui to something high, like 10, so it doesn't get hidden behind your inventory or health bars.
The core roblox custom tooltip system script logic
Now for the meat of the project. We're going to use a LocalScript because, well, tooltips are purely a client-side experience. There's no reason to bother the server with where a player's mouse is hanging out.
I prefer putting the main logic inside a ModuleScript and then calling it from a LocalScript, but for the sake of keeping things simple here, we can stick to a robust LocalScript inside StarterPlayerScripts or the ScreenGui itself.
The first thing we need to handle is the movement. We want the tooltip to follow the mouse. The most reliable way to do this is by using RunService.RenderStepped. Using a simple While wait() do loop feels stuttery, and we want this to feel like it's glued to the cursor.
```lua local RunService = game:GetService("RunService") local UserInputService = game:GetService("UserInputService") local tooltipFrame = script.Parent.TooltipFrame -- Adjust this path
RunService.RenderStepped:Connect(function() if tooltipFrame.Visible then local mouseLocation = UserInputService:GetMouseLocation() -- We add a small offset so the tooltip isn't directly under the cursor tooltipFrame.Position = UDim2.fromOffset(mouseLocation.X + 15, mouseLocation.Y + 15) end end) ```
Making the tooltip actually dynamic
A tooltip is useless if it says the same thing for every item. You need a way to tell the roblox custom tooltip system script what text to display based on what the player is hovering over.
A really clean way to do this is by using "Attributes." You can go to any button or item in your UI, click the "Attributes" section in the properties window, and add a string attribute called "TooltipText."
Then, in our script, we can loop through all the buttons in the game and connect MouseEnter and MouseLeave events. When the mouse enters, we grab that attribute and update the text. When it leaves, we hide the frame.
It looks something like this:
```lua local function setupTooltip(object) object.MouseEnter:Connect(function() local text = object:GetAttribute("TooltipText") if text then tooltipFrame.TextLabel.Text = text tooltipFrame.Visible = true end end)
object.MouseLeave:Connect(function() tooltipFrame.Visible = false end) end ```
Solving the "off-screen" problem
One thing that usually trips people up is when the tooltip goes off the edge of the screen. If your mouse is at the very bottom right, a tooltip with a +15 offset is going to disappear into the void.
To fix this, you have to do a little bit of math. Don't worry, it's nothing too crazy. You basically just check if the mouse position plus the width of your tooltip frame is greater than the total screen size. If it is, you flip the offset so the tooltip appears to the left or above the cursor instead.
It's these little logic checks that separate a "okay" script from a "great" one. It prevents that awkward moment where a player can't read the stats of an item because it's clipped behind their taskbar.
Adding some visual polish
If you want to get fancy, don't just snap the visibility on and off. Use TweenService. A quick 0.1-second fade-in looks way smoother than a frame just popping into existence.
You can animate the GroupTransparency if you're using a CanvasGroup, or just tween the BackgroundTransparency and TextTransparency simultaneously. I personally like a slight "pop" effect where the tooltip scales up from 0.9 to 1.0 while fading in. It gives the UI some "juice," as game designers like to say.
Handling heavy UI environments
If your game has hundreds of buttons (like a massive tycoon or a complex RPG), connecting a MouseEnter event to every single one might be a bit much. In those cases, I usually suggest a more global approach.
You can use UserInputService to detect whenever the mouse moves and then use PlayerGui:GetGuiObjectsAtPosition. This lets you check what's under the cursor in real-time without needing 500 individual event connections. It keeps your roblox custom tooltip system script efficient and prevents memory leaks, which is always a plus.
A few common pitfalls to watch out for
I've seen a lot of people forget that GetMouseLocation() doesn't account for the top bar (the one with the Roblox icon and chat). This can lead to your tooltip being about 36 pixels off vertically. If your UI seems slightly "sinky" or offset, that's usually why. Using GuiService:GetGuiInset() helps you calculate that offset perfectly so the tooltip sits exactly where you expect it to.
Another thing: make sure your tooltip frame has Active set to false. If the tooltip itself can capture mouse events, you might accidentally trigger a "MouseLeave" event on the button you're hovering over because the tooltip got in the way. It creates this weird flickering loop where the tooltip shows up, blocks the mouse, hides itself, and then shows up again. It's a classic mistake, and it's super annoying to debug if you don't know what's happening.
Final thoughts on customization
The best part about building your own roblox custom tooltip system script is that you aren't stuck with basic text. Since you're the one scripting it, you can add images, rarity colors (like purple for Epic items), or even small stat bars.
I once made a system where the tooltip showed a live preview of a 3D model using a ViewportFrame. It took a bit more work, but the principle remained the same: detect the hover, update the content, and follow the mouse.
Once you get the basic movement and visibility logic down, the rest is just creative flair. Keep your code organized, don't overcomplicate the math, and your players will definitely appreciate the extra effort you put into the interface. Happy scripting!