How do I activate the targeting icon for docking?

[upsilone]

I have been trying to figure out how to dock properly for the last 3 hours now. I have watched several tutorials on youtube; all seem to have some kind of yellow circle that shows the exact position of the object I am trying to dock to, even when that object is 100 km away.

Is there any hotkey on the keyboard I need to press in order to activate it? I have tried all the buttons on my keyboard, but to no avail.

[DeMatt]

...have you actually targeted the object?

Go to the Map view, find your desired object, left-click on it to bring up the menu, and choose "Set as Target". Then there will be a pair of pinkish markers on your Navball showing the direction towards and away from your target.

The yellowish position-and-distance highlight in the ship view only activates within a certain distance - I think it's 100 km, but it could be as little as 50. You'll want to get the hang of Map maneuvers to get that close.

[upsilone]

Yes, I made sure to target the spacecraft on the map (its' orbit turned yellow) and the purple markers on the nav ball do show. I was also able to come as near as 1 km from the object I was trying to dock with.

The problem, is that space is extremely dark and I am unable to see the object, even when it is that close.

The yellow targeting circle does not magically appear as it does on the tutorial videos, which is why I was wondering if there is any hot key I need to press so that it shows.

I happen to be playing on steam, which might explain this if this targeting system is a new addition to the game and Steam clients have not been updated yet.

[LethalDose]

And when you get closer (where your target ship is rendered) you can r-click on a specific part to target it specifically. Typically, you're selecting your target port.

[BadScientist]

If you have the Kerbal Engineer Redux mod installed, there is a RDV (rendezvous) tab, which maintains a list of categorized potential targets. Ships, probes, stations, celestial bodies, etc. I find that VERY convenient. I have so much stuff in orbit right now ... and some of it is actually fairly close toghether. So the map view sometimes is very inconvenient for target selection. (Perhaps I needs to clean up my Kerbal orbits ... at least some of those vessels are no longer needed and could be safely de-orbited. Low Kerbal Orbit is beginning to look like my sock drawer ...)

[AlexinTokyo]

Try F4 to toggle labels, I think.

[Reactordrone]

Make sure the camera is behind the ship looking forwards, then if you've lined up the level indicator in the centre of the navball with the purple circle the yellow diamond target indicator and target range should be straight in front of your ship. If there is a close intercept the prograde marker should also be fairly close to the purple target circle.

[Taki117]

Try F4 to toggle labels, I think.

It's most likely this. It is entirely possible that F4 was accidentally hit when trying to quicksave (F5) which would remove the labels.