Item descriptions fleeting?

[brian14]

One aspect of the game I found very annoying is that item descriptions usually seem to disappear within 1-2 seconds after opening. I put my mouse over (for example) one of the reward choices after completing a quest, item description box appears, and is gone after I barely read a couple words. It does not always happen -- sometimes item description remains until I move the mouse. It seems to be consistent within a given game session -- either it happens every time, or not at all.

Has anyone else experienced this, and do you know how to prevent it from happening?

[LinmorLorendil]

Its a bug.
You can usually fix it by logging out and back in. Sometimes it will just go away on its own.

Should file a bug report when it happens.

[Riorik]

I have no idea whether it's a bug or not...however...

What you're seeing is what is often termed "mouseover" information....part of the "why it's called that" is because that's the term used to describe the object attribute as a programmer. (of course it may predate that...kinda a chicken versus the egg conversation but that's not really relevant)

Mouseover information is usually cued to only show up after you hover over the item in one spot for more than a second or two and GOES AWAY if you move your mouse. If you only happened to nudge it and it's still over the object, you should see the information again.

You can easily test this by looking at items completely outside DDO. Just turn on your computer and try to get mouseover information from anything on your desktop. If it has the same problem, you might want to look for the problem source somewhere other than directly related to DDO.

I'll end with...I'm unfamiliar with this being a bug. Doesn't mean there isn't one, just not one I've ever seen.

[Ardkor]

I have experienced this many times, exactly as the OP describes. I usually have to log out to the main screen then back in to make it stop. It is *incredibly* irritating when trying to shop at the AH or even to sell loot to a vendor.

I replaced my mouse, thinking that perhaps that was the cause, but it still happens every now and then for no apparent reason.

[Autolycus]

It happens to me fairly often. Usually, when I start a gaming session, things will be fine for a seemingly random amount of time. However, at some point the problem occurs. As far as I'm concerned, it is a bug.

The good news is there is a solution that works for me without logging out. When it happens, open Options/UI and look for something like "Show full item comparison tooltips". Uncheck it and then reselect it. This makes the descriptions display until you move the mouse.

Good luck.

[Mellifera]

Also if you select the item, on your Viewing Orb there's a lil magnifying glass icon to examine. If you use that, there's even an option to lock the description box open.

[FoggyKnight]

Sometimes I can't even get the description to load. The item flickers, and then nothing happens.

[Autolycus]

Sometimes I can't even get the description to load. The item flickers, and then nothing happens.

Did you try my suggestion above? It fixes the problem for me. If it reoccurs, just repeat.

[Gorby]

I've found this to happen when the item descripyion appears underneath your mouse cursor, making your cursor no longer over the object, but rather over the description. The resolution to that is to move the UI object (inv window) to the left side of the screen in order to give the description sufficient room to display.

[HippyPimp]

I've had this happen quite a few times as well. While the log off/on thing works every time I try it, it can be almost as annoying. I've found that simply loading a new area seems to fix the problem most of the time. Unfortunately, neither option helps much when given a quest reward, or when looting a chest. Hopefully a mod recognizes this as a problem and is able to track it down at some point. I'm sure it is not as big a deal to the vets, but us noobs have no idea what many things are/do, or what they are worth.

[Talish]

Hard target the item and press Z. The description stays until you close it or move on to another item.