DOS Days

Flight of the Amazon Queen

Released: 1995
Published by: Renegade Software, Warner Interactive
Developed by: Interactive Binary Illusions
Author(s): John Passfield, Steven Stamatiadis, Tony Ball, Richard Joseph, James Hannigan, Graham King, Chris Maule, Jason Page, David Punshon, George Stamatiadis

Introduction

Flight of the Amazon Queen is a point and click graphic adventure released in 1995. Its art style and dialogue read like a comic strip with a user interface akin to LucasArts classics such as Indiana Jones and Sam & Max Hit the Road. Set in the 1940s, you play Joe King, a pilot contracted to take Faye Russel, a beautiful movie star, to her photoshoot in the Amazon jungle.


Introduction (VGA, Sound Blaster)

 

In his search for help, King comes across a tribe of Amazon women who are under threat by the evil Dr. Ironside. He has captured their princess, Azura, and wants to turn them all into dinosaur warriors to take over the world! He must stop the evil Dr. Ironside from using his Dino Ray on them and rescue Azura.

The floppy disk version only has a "talkie" intro with the rest of the game in text only.

The CD-ROM version has speech throughout for all of the dialogue and made use of a variety of actors and had atmospheric sound effects. It also contains a playable game where you can interview the developers!


System Requirements

System Requirements 386 CPU, 4 MB of RAM (XMS), 1x CD-ROM (CD version only)
Graphics support: VGA only (320 x 200 in 256 colours)
Audio support: Ad Lib, Sound Blaster, Roland MT-32
Perhipherals: Keyboard and/or mouse
Original Media Six 3.5" 1.44 MB (DS/HD) floppy disks or 1 x CD-ROM.
Installed Size (MB) 9 MB (Floppy disk version), 22.4 MB (CD-ROM "talkie" version)


From where can it be run?

The CD-ROM version does not come with an installer (just run AQ.BAT from the CD or copy all the files to a subdirectory on your hard disk and run it from there).

The floppy disk version of the game must be installed to your hard disk. For the floppy version, if all files are in a subdirectory on your hard disk, the INSTALL.EXE program will correctly install the files - you do not even need to mimic a floppy drive using the DOS SUBST command.

The default installation directory is C:\QUEEN. To run the game, use AQ.BAT. This checks to see if you have a configuration file already and if not, it will run SETUP.EXE first. Ensure you have a minimum of 580 KB of conventional memory free for the game to load.

 

Copy Protection

Flight of the Amazon Queen has no copy protection.

 

How to Setup

After the game is installed, you can run SETUP.EXE to configure your game audio. It's best to have a mouse driver loaded for this.

Note: There is no option to set the Sound Blaster port address, IRQ or DMA channel.

 

Problems

Symptom: When trying to run the game, it returns 'DOS/16M error: [40] not enough available extended memory (XMIN)
Cause: FOTAQ requires a minimum of 580 KB of conventional memory and 4 MB of RAM in total, with the upper memory configured as Extended Memory (XMS).
Resolution: Be sure you are not running an Expanded Memory Manager (EMS) configured for EMS using the 'RAM' argument. If you are, change this to 'NOEMS' or edit your CONFIG.SYS file and comment out your EMM386.EXE line by prefixing the line it with 'REM '. Then restart your machine and try running the game again.


Keys

F1 Open journal (for saving/loading, sound setup and exiting the game)
F5 Restart game
F10 Exit game
ESC Skip cut-scene
Space Skip current speech/text
O Open
C Close
U Use
M Move
P Pick up
L Look at
T Talk to
G Give

 

To Quit the Game

When in the game, press F10 or click on your journal in the inventory section at the bottom of the screen:

Choose 'Give Up' and then confirm.

 

Supporting Documents

 

Additional Files, Drivers & Utilities

 

Save Games

Save games are stored in 'slots'. To save your current game, or press F1 or click on your journalin the inventory section at the bottom of the screen and choose 'Make Entry' - give a description so you know the circumstances/how far through you are:

To load a save game, click on an entry and choose 'Read Entry'.

Save game files are stored in a separate directory: C:\QUEEN.SAV. There is a single QUEEN.CFG file which is the index for all save game files, and one file for each slot you saved into - these files are _AQ_SAVE.1, _AQ_SAVE.2, etc. The files are not text-readable or editable.

 

Versions of the game known to exist

The game version can be identified by clicking on your journal in the inventory, and clicking on the 'i' symbol in the lower-right.

Version Date Comments
Demo 20th February 1995 A playable demo of the game made exclusively for PC Games magazine, supplied on a cover disk.
M.10 April 1995 Initial public release on floppy disk (now freeware).
M.10 April 1995 CD-ROM release with full speech throughout and special developer interview game.
25th Anniversary Edition 2008 Developed and produced by MojoTouch, this features:

- Totally new, much praised, game play controls that were built from the ground up for touch-screens.
* Hotspot based - no more pixel hunting!
* All-new slick icons and animations.
* For more details, please see our tutorial video: https://youtu.be/Scq1QDKOFHA
- A stunning new HD graphic mode that upscales the game beautifully to high-resolutions
- Completely new game menus and save/load system
- Three Music options: MT-32, General Midi or Adlib
- Optional retro settings: play with original graphics, original music and even the original controls (mouse pointer)
- A lot of extras:
* ‘The Making of’ booklet (35 pages)
* Interview Mini-Game featurette with Commentary by Game Creator
* Original US and EU manuals
* The Official Playing Guide (97 pages)


Original Floppy Disk Contents

The floppy disks have no specific volume label. Here are each disk's contents:

    Disk 1 of 6 (3.5" 1.44 MB (DS/HD) floppy disk):

     
                    
    Directory of A:\
    INSTALL EXE 51,216 28-03-1995 13:26
    QUEEN IFC 1,570 21-04-1995 3:35
    QUEEN _1 1,400,832 21-04-1995 3:35
    3 File(s) 1,453,618 Bytes

    Disk 2 of 6 (3.5" 1.44 MB (DS/HD) floppy disk):

     
             
     
                    
    Directory of A:\
    QUEEN _2 1,457,152 21-04-1995 3:35
    1 File(s) 1,457,152 Bytes

    Disk 3 of 6 (3.5" 1.44 MB (DS/HD) floppy disk):

     
                    
    Directory of A:\
    QUEEN _3 1,457,152 21-04-1995 3:35
    1 File(s) 1,457,152 Bytes

    Disk 4 of 6 (3.5" 1.44 MB (DS/HD) floppy disk):

     
             
     
                    
    Directory of A:\
    QUEEN _4 1,457,152 21-04-1995 3:35
    1 File(s) 1,457,152 Bytes

    Disk 5 of 6 (3.5" 1.44 MB (DS/HD) floppy disk):

     
                    
    Directory of A:\
    QUEEN _5 1,457,152 21-04-1995 3:35
    1 File(s) 1,457,152 Bytes

    Disk 6 of 6 (3.5" 1.44 MB (DS/HD) floppy disk):

     
             
     
                    
    Directory of A:\
    QUEEN _6 1,350,331 21-04-1995 3:35
    1 File(s) 1,350,331 Bytes

    Disc 1 of 1 (CD-ROM)

    DOS4GW   EXE            244,716 16-12-1994 18:08
    QUEEN    1          190,787,021 04-04-1995 19:05
    QUEEN    EXE            434,425 19-04-1995 19:08
    SETUP    EXE            125,086 29-03-1995 12:30
    SETUP    MUS             68,552 09-05-1994 10:55
    SETUP    RL              12,580 05-07-1994 12:46
    SETUP    SB              25,362 21-11-1994 16:26
     7 File(s)       191,697,742 Bytes

 

Installed Directory Contents

Once installed, the following directory structure exists in the game directory:

    CD-ROM version:

     
                    
    Directory of C:\QUEEN
    AQ BAT 146 15-01-2025 11:35
    DOS4GW EXE 244,716 15-01-2025 11:34
    QUEEN 1 22,677,657 15-01-2025 11:31
    QUEEN EXE 287,285 15-01-2025 11:35
    SETUP EXE 125,086 15-01-2025 11:34
    SETUP MUS 68,552 15-01-2025 11:35
    SETUP RL 12,580 15-01-2025 11:35
    SETUP SB 25,362 15-01-2025 11:35
    8 File(s) 23,441,384 Bytes