Any Microsoft Flight Simulator Fans Here?

[Blzer]

Re: Any Microsoft Flight Simulator Fans Here?

Making it much more of a game, I see.

I wonder how the purists will feel!

[KSUowls]

Re: Any Microsoft Flight Simulator Fans Here?

Reminds me of a game from the 90s called Simcopter, a game that I've been wanting a remake of forever. Go around the city putting out fires or rescuing injured people , taking them to a hospital. I am looking forward to seeing how gamified Flight Sim will be, but I do hope that they keep the extreme detail of the series.

[jasontoddwhitt]

Re: Any Microsoft Flight Simulator Fans Here?

Making it much more of a game, I see.

I wonder how the purists will feel!

I don't have too big of a fuss about it, as I use a 3rd party add-on so I can run a virtual air transport/airline company.

[canes21]

Re: Any Microsoft Flight Simulator Fans Here?

Starting to get into this more. In the past I always booted it up, really used the drone camera to explore some things, but didn't do much else. This week I've done a good chunk of the tutorials and just did my first flight in a Cessna 152. I took off from the regional airport near my home, flew for just under 30 minutes before returning and landing in one piece.

Having my first successful ground to ground flight outside of the tutorial has me riding a high right now. Thing is, using this Xbox controller is just meh. I know you guys have posted a variety of flight sticks a couple of yokes. I'm looking to purchase something, but I want to stay cheaper as I don't know just how far I'll go in this sim. I definitely want a yoke and not a flight stick as I only plan to fly this Cessna around for the foreseeable future.

Are the Logitech G Pro items a good entry level choice? They seem cheaper relative to many other items and being Logitech I assume they have some reliability to them. I have used Logitech steering wheels for decades now and use one to this day for when I play truck sim, which Flight Sim is replacing right now as my niche relaxation game, so I am generally favorable with Logitech products. I'm not really trying to spend too much money on equipment right now, but it looks like no matter what a few hundred bucks is going to be needed which I can live with, I'm just not sure I want to go with some of the higher end items that are like $400 just for the yoke itself. I'm not quite that invested in the sim.

[Picci]

Re: Any Microsoft Flight Simulator Fans Here?

Are the Logitech G Pro items a good entry level choice?

Kool read on your euphoria for your 1st Flight. Me, I'm working on it.

May I suggest the Thrustmaster T. Flight Hotas One. It has a great value price and does everything you need it to do but just be aware, it does not have a designated button for trim control so you will have to override and assign it if you like to use trim flying.

[canes21]

Re: Any Microsoft Flight Simulator Fans Here?

Kool read on your euphoria for your 1st Flight. Me, I'm working on it.

May I suggest the Thrustmaster T. Flight Hotas One. It has a great value price and does everything you need it to do but just be aware, it does not have a designated button for trim control so you will have to override and assign it if you like to use trim flying.

In the training and during that first ground to ground flight I got like a small rush each time I finally lifted off. It's very similar to the rush I get when I've flown on a commercial air plane for vacations and what not. You get the engine kicked on, the shaking of the aircraft as you shoot down the runway, the noise in the cabin from rolling on the runway at such a high speed. Then, in an instant the wheels are off the ground, you feel weightless, it's smooth.

I am honestly impressed at how well that feeling is conveyed in the game through a simple controller. That feeling is what got me hooked this week. Landing the plane on my own for the first time outside a tutorial was just the icing on the cake. It's the takeoff that gives me a thrill even in a video game.

I do appreciate you posting that link, and I have looked at that flight stick, but right now I am wanting to look at yokes to purchase with rudder pedals. I've read a decent amount about the Logitech G Pro yoke and the common consensus I see is that it is good for new people in the flight sim scene, but I did see many often said the lack of 180 degree rotation to either side is more limiting that they expected and that they'd recommend spending a few more bucks to get a slightly better yoke.

The one I currently have my eye on is https://www.amazon.com/Alpha-Flight-...=operasport-20. It's not too expensive and seems to give the full 180 degrees of rotation plus some other nice features like being able to be paired with other peripherals like if I went with Logitech for the pedals or something else.

Does anyone here have any experience with the above yoke or of the other Logitech items like the rudder pedals or the throttle quadrants?

[canes21]

Re: Any Microsoft Flight Simulator Fans Here?

Since completing my first flight the other night where I took off and landed at the same airport, my local regional airport, I have completed an additional 7 flights now. With each flight I only get more hooked on the game.

What I've done since that first flight is take off from my regional airport and head north through Virginia flying 30-45 minutes at a time, then landing at smaller regional airports. The reason I went north into Virginia is because 1) Mrs. canes21 went to Radford University and I spent countless weekends there, so it's a place that has memories for the both of us. I wanted to fly over Radford plus Blacksburg just to see it from the air. Flying over Radford was very nostalgic in a sense. I was able to locate exactly where her apartment used to be(it was torn down and turned into university parking) and it was just nice seeing the town again and being able to look at each road and intersection and picture it in my mind, thinking back to when we were there.

I then headed east to get to the coastline as I am heading towards the Chesapeake Bay. My grandparents used to live on an island in the bay, so I am heading that way to eventually fly over the island and likely have a similar nostalgic/reminiscent experience as I fly over and look at all the spots I remember from my childhood. I have almost made it to the Virginia Beach area, so I've got one more stopgap flight, then I'll be heading up the coast following the Chesapeake Bridge/Tunnel up to the Delmarva Peninsula as I make my way to the island.

Once I finish that flight I am not sure exactly what I will do next. I'll likely fly back to my regional airport in a less flights that are longer in length. After that, I may go from the Cessna 152 to the Cessna 172 and do some local flights before deciding on where I'll head next in the map. I am enjoying treating it like a trip where I am actually going from airport to airport each night and not just teleporting myself up to these locations to fly around for a bit. It's a nice little journey that makes me feel somewhat like I am actually flying across the southeastern US to get to these spots.

I am a little over 4 hours of flight time now with these flights including my first flight where I took off and landed from the same airport. I've been using real time and weather, so half my flight time has been at night which I thought would be more difficult and maybe not for me, but so far I've actually really enjoyed flying at night. It's very nice seeing all the different lights, then darkness as I fly over rural areas. Plus, the airports are extremely easy to spot at night time which is great for someone like me who has never had that great of vision their entire life. There were a few nights last week where we had bad storms in the region, so I had about no visibility at all when flying in game, but it was actually relaxing flying 6,500 feet in the air as rain pounded the windshield and I would briefly exit a cloud to see civilization again before I was back in total darkness for 10+ minutes at a time.

Flying in this game is extremely relaxing. It's been the perfect way for me to cap off some of these nights lately where I've been spending 5+ hours outside working on various projects around the house. I can sit down, unwind, and take in the sights as I fly from small airport to small airport while listening to music and whatnot. Even when using just an Xbox controller I'm finding myself getting lost in the virtual world in this game as it's all so good looking and immersive.

[tc020791]

Any Microsoft Flight Simulator Fans Here?

Since completing my first flight the other night where I took off and landed at the same airport, my local regional airport, I have completed an additional 7 flights now. With each flight I only get more hooked on the game.

What I've done since that first flight is take off from my regional airport and head north through Virginia flying 30-45 minutes at a time, then landing at smaller regional airports. The reason I went north into Virginia is because 1) Mrs. canes21 went to Radford University and I spent countless weekends there, so it's a place that has memories for the both of us. I wanted to fly over Radford plus Blacksburg just to see it from the air. Flying over Radford was very nostalgic in a sense. I was able to locate exactly where her apartment used to be(it was torn down and turned into university parking) and it was just nice seeing the town again and being able to look at each road and intersection and picture it in my mind, thinking back to when we were there.

I then headed east to get to the coastline as I am heading towards the Chesapeake Bay. My grandparents used to live on an island in the bay, so I am heading that way to eventually fly over the island and likely have a similar nostalgic/reminiscent experience as I fly over and look at all the spots I remember from my childhood. I have almost made it to the Virginia Beach area, so I've got one more stopgap flight, then I'll be heading up the coast following the Chesapeake Bridge/Tunnel up to the Delmarva Peninsula as I make my way to the island.

Once I finish that flight I am not sure exactly what I will do next. I'll likely fly back to my regional airport in a less flights that are longer in length. After that, I may go from the Cessna 152 to the Cessna 172 and do some local flights before deciding on where I'll head next in the map. I am enjoying treating it like a trip where I am actually going from airport to airport each night and not just teleporting myself up to these locations to fly around for a bit. It's a nice little journey that makes me feel somewhat like I am actually flying across the southeastern US to get to these spots.

I am a little over 4 hours of flight time now with these flights including my first flight where I took off and landed from the same airport. I've been using real time and weather, so half my flight time has been at night which I thought would be more difficult and maybe not for me, but so far I've actually really enjoyed flying at night. It's very nice seeing all the different lights, then darkness as I fly over rural areas. Plus, the airports are extremely easy to spot at night time which is great for someone like me who has never had that great of vision their entire life. There were a few nights last week where we had bad storms in the region, so I had about no visibility at all when flying in game, but it was actually relaxing flying 6,500 feet in the air as rain pounded the windshield and I would briefly exit a cloud to see civilization again before I was back in total darkness for 10+ minutes at a time.

Flying in this game is extremely relaxing. It's been the perfect way for me to cap off some of these nights lately where I've been spending 5+ hours outside working on various projects around the house. I can sit down, unwind, and take in the sights as I fly from small airport to small airport while listening to music and whatnot. Even when using just an Xbox controller I'm finding myself getting lost in the virtual world in this game as it's all so good looking and immersive.

Really well put. This game has endless possibilities, you just have to make use of the tools the game gives you (which is a ton), you literally have the entire world at your finger tips. It was something I’ve always wanted in a game and this game delivers that, and then some.

Just wait until you get on to the market place and see all the unbelievable planes, scenery, bush trips, etc. So many dedicated developers have made worthwhile content for this game. You could easily spend hundreds of dollars just on extra stuff and it’s all absolutely worth it.

Then there’s the multiplayer aspect of it which is just so much fun and I think extremely underrated if you’ve never actually played the game. You can literally hop on the same server (Xbox or PC) and be flying anywhere in the world with your friends in just minutes. The only thing the game is missing is some sort of open communication system but that could get really crazy as some areas are really highly populated. For example, I was flying around DC on the 4th of July on the East USA server, there had to be atleast 50 people within a mile of me flying around. You can always do a group chat if playing with friends on Xbox though.

If you ever want to do a flight together I’d definitely be down. I’m actually from the Delmarva area as well. Went almost every summer I can remember to Ocean City, MD and even went to Salisbury University for 2 years.

[ODogg]

Re: Any Microsoft Flight Simulator Fans Here?

Really well put. This game has endless possibilities, you just have to make use of the tools the game gives you (which is a ton), you literally have the entire world at your finger tips. It was something I’ve always wanted in a game and this game delivers that, and then some.

Just wait until you get on to the market place and see all the unbelievable planes, scenery, bush trips, etc. So many dedicated developers have made worthwhile content for this game. You could easily spend hundreds of dollars just on extra stuff and it’s all absolutely worth it.

Then there’s the multiplayer aspect of it which is just so much fun and I think extremely underrated if you’ve never actually played the game. You can literally hop on the same server (Xbox or PC) and be flying anywhere in the world with your friends in just minutes. The only thing the game is missing is some sort of open communication system but that could get really crazy as some areas are really highly populated. For example, I was flying around DC on the 4th of July on the East USA server, there had to be atleast 50 people within a mile of me flying around. You can always do a group chat if playing with friends on Xbox though.

If you ever want to do a flight together I’d definitely be down. I’m actually from the Delmarva area as well. Went almost every summer I can remember to Ocean City, MD and even went to Salisbury University for 2 years.

I did not know about any multiplayer and been playing this game for a long time. I see other planes on occasion but I don't know if they're people or what. It's a great game but I often have no idea WTF I am doing, lol

[tc020791]

Any Microsoft Flight Simulator Fans Here?

I did not know about any multiplayer and been playing this game for a long time. I see other planes on occasion but I don't know if they're people or what. It's a great game but I often have no idea WTF I am doing, lol

When you’re setting up a flight plan, in the top right corner click on flight conditions. Make sure you have “All Players” selected in the top row.

Then go into options, you can do this during a flight or from the Home Screen. Under general options, go to traffic. Right at the top, maybe 3-5 down, turn “Show Traffic Nameplates” to “On”. It should be turned off by default. You will now see a small banner of info above a plane if it is a real person. Any plane that doesn’t have the banner over them is AI controlled. Head over to a very populated area, like NYC, and you will immediately be able to tell what to look for as there will be real people all over the place.

[canes21]

Re: Any Microsoft Flight Simulator Fans Here?

Made it up the Chesapeake Bay and got to fly around Chincoteague Island like I set out to do. It brought back some memories flying over key parts of the island I spent time at as a kid.

Now I've started my journey back to my regional airport. Once there I will figure out what is next.

Also, I caved and bought the Honeycomb Alpha yoke. I should have it sometime this weekend and am very excited to start flying with it. Eventually I'll at least get a throttle quadrant as well as rudder pedals, but I didn't want to buy it all at once. I've spent way too much money the past 3-4 weeks doing a lot of projects around the house. I'll live buying them over time. At least I say that now, but I can see a scenario where the yoke is such a better experience it makes me want the pedals and throttle even more.

Sent from my SM-S901U using Tapatalk

[bad_philanthropy]

Re: Any Microsoft Flight Simulator Fans Here?

but I can see a scenario where the yoke is such a better experience it makes me want the pedals and throttle even more.

Sent from my SM-S901U using Tapatalk

Imo all three are absolutely essential once you really start to get into flight sim. It took a while for me to get used to the pedals, but there is no going back, and the throttle quadrant makes everything that much more enjoyable. I have just been using the standard Logitech pedals and quadrant for years and they have been completely fine for not a lot of money. Perfect for flying GA and fine for airliners as well.

[fatleg3]

Re: Any Microsoft Flight Simulator Fans Here?

Since completing my first flight the other night where I took off and landed at the same airport, my local regional airport, I have completed an additional 7 flights now. With each flight I only get more hooked on the game.

What I've done since that first flight is take off from my regional airport and head north through Virginia flying 30-45 minutes at a time, then landing at smaller regional airports. The reason I went north into Virginia is because 1) Mrs. canes21 went to Radford University and I spent countless weekends there, so it's a place that has memories for the both of us. I wanted to fly over Radford plus Blacksburg just to see it from the air. Flying over Radford was very nostalgic in a sense. I was able to locate exactly where her apartment used to be(it was torn down and turned into university parking) and it was just nice seeing the town again and being able to look at each road and intersection and picture it in my mind, thinking back to when we were there.

I then headed east to get to the coastline as I am heading towards the Chesapeake Bay. My grandparents used to live on an island in the bay, so I am heading that way to eventually fly over the island and likely have a similar nostalgic/reminiscent experience as I fly over and look at all the spots I remember from my childhood. I have almost made it to the Virginia Beach area, so I've got one more stopgap flight, then I'll be heading up the coast following the Chesapeake Bridge/Tunnel up to the Delmarva Peninsula as I make my way to the island.

Once I finish that flight I am not sure exactly what I will do next. I'll likely fly back to my regional airport in a less flights that are longer in length. After that, I may go from the Cessna 152 to the Cessna 172 and do some local flights before deciding on where I'll head next in the map. I am enjoying treating it like a trip where I am actually going from airport to airport each night and not just teleporting myself up to these locations to fly around for a bit. It's a nice little journey that makes me feel somewhat like I am actually flying across the southeastern US to get to these spots.

I am a little over 4 hours of flight time now with these flights including my first flight where I took off and landed from the same airport. I've been using real time and weather, so half my flight time has been at night which I thought would be more difficult and maybe not for me, but so far I've actually really enjoyed flying at night. It's very nice seeing all the different lights, then darkness as I fly over rural areas. Plus, the airports are extremely easy to spot at night time which is great for someone like me who has never had that great of vision their entire life. There were a few nights last week where we had bad storms in the region, so I had about no visibility at all when flying in game, but it was actually relaxing flying 6,500 feet in the air as rain pounded the windshield and I would briefly exit a cloud to see civilization again before I was back in total darkness for 10+ minutes at a time.

Flying in this game is extremely relaxing. It's been the perfect way for me to cap off some of these nights lately where I've been spending 5+ hours outside working on various projects around the house. I can sit down, unwind, and take in the sights as I fly from small airport to small airport while listening to music and whatnot. Even when using just an Xbox controller I'm finding myself getting lost in the virtual world in this game as it's all so good looking and immersive.

I just got MSFS and a joystick and like you, I get more and more hooked after each flight. I have about 8 hours of flight time mostly from doing the tutorials over and over until I got around 1000 points from the max. I finished all the tutorials through VFR training. I started the airliner training but it seems like it requires some knowledge of a airliner.

There is some questions I have. Hopefully someone can answer them for me.....

How do you determine the cruising altitude during a flight? On the same note, how do you determine the descend altitude/speed and when you should start making your descend for landing besides just looking at the runway judging the distance? Is their a set descend altitude and speed you must follow for each airport or is it to the pilots discretion?

What is the best way to learn how to fly an airliner? When I tried the airliner tutorial it just throws you in a airliner and expect you to already know some of the terms. I was overwhelmed.

What's the best way to learn any of the other planes? The beginning tutorials did a good job of teaching me about the Cessna 152. I tried the Cessna 172 and after playing with both GPS screens before takeoff, that gave me a good feel for that plane. For this and the last question, Im assuming the best way to learn is to pick a plane and look up a tutorial on youtube?.?

How do you choose which plane to fly when setting up the flight plan? Is it specific planes for specific trips/distances or is it all personal preferences?

When approaching an airport for landing, are you suppose to always fly downwind parallel to the runway and swing back around like they teach you in the tutorial or can you just go straight to the runway?

During my first solo flight I flew out of Tampa, to my house and back. On approach for arrival I was suppose to land at a certain runway but as I came up on the airport, their was no marker directing me to the correct runway. I contacted ATC for permission to land and they gave me permission but as I came upon the airport, I received no contact from the ATC and the maker didnt change to the runway I needed to land at. It just stayed centered over the airport so I landed at the first runway I was aligned with.

[jwilphl]

Re: Any Microsoft Flight Simulator Fans Here?

I just got MSFS and a joystick and like you, I get more and more hooked after each flight. I have about 8 hours of flight time mostly from doing the tutorials over and over until I got around 1000 points from the max. I finished all the tutorials through VFR training. I started the airliner training but it seems like it requires some knowledge of a airliner.

There is some questions I have. Hopefully someone can answer them for me.....

How do you determine the cruising altitude during a flight? On the same note, how do you determine the descend altitude/speed and when you should start making your descend for landing besides just looking at the runway judging the distance? Is their a set descend altitude and speed you must follow for each airport or is it to the pilots discretion?

What is the best way to learn how to fly an airliner? When I tried the airliner tutorial it just throws you in a airliner and expect you to already know some of the terms. I was overwhelmed.

What's the best way to learn any of the other planes? The beginning tutorials did a good job of teaching me about the Cessna 152. I tried the Cessna 172 and after playing with both GPS screens before takeoff, that gave me a good feel for that plane. For this and the last question, Im assuming the best way to learn is to pick a plane and look up a tutorial on youtube?.?

How do you choose which plane to fly when setting up the flight plan? Is it specific planes for specific trips/distances or is it all personal preferences?

When approaching an airport for landing, are you suppose to always fly downwind parallel to the runway and swing back around like they teach you in the tutorial or can you just go straight to the runway?

During my first solo flight I flew out of Tampa, to my house and back. On approach for arrival I was suppose to land at a certain runway but as I came up on the airport, their was no marker directing me to the correct runway. I contacted ATC for permission to land and they gave me permission but as I came upon the airport, I received no contact from the ATC and the maker didnt change to the runway I needed to land at. It just stayed centered over the airport so I landed at the first runway I was aligned with.

Flying an airliner will definitely take practice and repetition. This is coming from someone that has zero real-life flight-time and hadn't played any simulator before three weeks ago.

I've been learning in the A310, realizing it's an older model Airbus and not really in wide use anymore. It's flight systems, including the autopilot, are a bit finicky. I'd probably recommend starting with the A320 (a modern airliner) and going from there.

(1) Cruising altitude is generally found on an IFR flightplan. There are systems that mock these for simulation purposes (something like SimBrief), or you could use a website such as SkyVector and get used to looking at various charts which include the IFR airways. They will give you real-life vectors and waypoints.

These flightplans will also include altitude increases, decreases, and velocities. Some waypoints have built-in limits (speed and/or altitude) that are pre-set, but of course in a simulation setting you can ignore those limits.

Airports will also have precision and non-precision guidance systems. An ILS system, for example, will precisely tell a plane its descent vectors and speeds. With autopilot you can capture the localizer and glideslope and land without intervention. Each runway will have its own ILS "settings."

You can also calculate speeds and timings manually using a 3% rate of descent from cruising altitude on down, but it goes without saying that's much more involved. You're generally meant to keep vertical speeds in the -2000/fps range and less. I know in the A310, in particular, it tends to descend quite slowly, so I often surpass those levels, especially when following ATC guidance on level changes.

(2) If you want to learn to fly an airliner, or any other plane for that matter, your best bet is probably video tutorials on YouTube. You can also read various documentation and follow checklists, but a video tutorial will quickly show you the ropes and you can expand on your learning from there.

(3) Picking a plane for a trip really comes down to a plane's capabilities and personal preference. Each plane will have a range and so forth. You could fly a Cessna 152 or an A310 from Pittsburgh to Cleveland, but you wouldn't fly a Cessna from New York to Los Angeles. Speed may also matter depending on time limitations, etc.

(4) Approaches will vary depending on VFR versus IFR flight rules (visual as opposed to instrumentation). If you're flying visually, it's pretty much whatever you have clearance for and the rest depends on your level of expertise. In simulation world, the first part matters much less, but if you're imitating the real thing then you self prescribe those limitations.

A flightplan and approach plates (from IFR guidance, such as ILS) will otherwise tell you how to approach an airport and its runways, as mentioned above. You can find these for free on various websites, but Navigraph (for example) does offer a nice, clear resource with overlays and such.

As I'm not an expert, hopefully anyone more experienced may correct me on the finer points, but I do hope that helps a tad. Just some of the things I've learned in my own time figuring this out.

[fatleg3]

Re: Any Microsoft Flight Simulator Fans Here?

Flying an airliner will definitely take practice and repetition. This is coming from someone that has zero real-life flight-time and hadn't played any simulator before three weeks ago.

I've been learning in the A310, realizing it's an older model Airbus and not really in wide use anymore. It's flight systems, including the autopilot, are a bit finicky. I'd probably recommend starting with the A320 (a modern airliner) and going from there.

(1) Cruising altitude is generally found on an IFR flightplan. There are systems that mock these for simulation purposes (something like SimBrief), or you could use a website such as SkyVector and get used to looking at various charts which include the IFR airways. They will give you real-life vectors and waypoints.

These flightplans will also include altitude increases, decreases, and velocities. Some waypoints have built-in limits (speed and/or altitude) that are pre-set, but of course in a simulation setting you can ignore those limits.

Airports will also have precision and non-precision guidance systems. An ILS system, for example, will precisely tell a plane its descent vectors and speeds. With autopilot you can capture the localizer and glideslope and land without intervention. Each runway will have its own ILS "settings."

You can also calculate speeds and timings manually using a 3% rate of descent from cruising altitude on down, but it goes without saying that's much more involved. You're generally meant to keep vertical speeds in the -2000/fps range and less. I know in the A310, in particular, it tends to descend quite slowly, so I often surpass those levels, especially when following ATC guidance on level changes.

(2) If you want to learn to fly an airliner, or any other plane for that matter, your best bet is probably video tutorials on YouTube. You can also read various documentation and follow checklists, but a video tutorial will quickly show you the ropes and you can expand on your learning from there.

(3) Picking a plane for a trip really comes down to a plane's capabilities and personal preference. Each plane will have a range and so forth. You could fly a Cessna 152 or an A310 from Pittsburgh to Cleveland, but you wouldn't fly a Cessna from New York to Los Angeles. Speed may also matter depending on time limitations, etc.

(4) Approaches will vary depending on VFR versus IFR flight rules (visual as opposed to instrumentation). If you're flying visually, it's pretty much whatever you have clearance for and the rest depends on your level of expertise. In simulation world, the first part matters much less, but if you're imitating the real thing then you self prescribe those limitations.

A flightplan and approach plates (from IFR guidance, such as ILS) will otherwise tell you how to approach an airport and its runways, as mentioned above. You can find these for free on various websites, but Navigraph (for example) does offer a nice, clear resource with overlays and such.

As I'm not an expert, hopefully anyone more experienced may correct me on the finer points, but I do hope that helps a tad. Just some of the things I've learned in my own time figuring this out.

I just checked out the SimBrief and SkyVector site. So the advice is to make a flight plan on one of those sites and leave it open, start the flight in msfs, and switch over to the flight plan to check speed/altitudes/etc or can I "load" them into the sim. I ask that because I see some flight planners say compatible with MSFS. If I can "load" a flight plan into the sim, than that's one I would prefer.

I also checked out Navigraph. Is it the same as SimBrief and Skyvector, and you use whichever one you prefer? I see SimBrief is made by Navigraph. While searching flight planning I see a bunch of reddit users saying that they use a combination of softwares like Navigraph/Simbrief at the same time. So what do they do differently that would require using more then one flight planning software?

You have helped me tremendously. All I need is a point in the right direction and I get lost in the google/youtube rabbit hole. I guess I need to do the IFR tutorials ASAP so I can learn about ILS.