About the puzzles: always remember the timer is started when you click the button, NOT when your avatar touches it.
So before touching any button, make sure you line up PERFECTLY with it. This means the avatar will only waste time on pressing the button, not on walking/rotating to face it too.
Also, bumpy physics make it really hard to go from one place to the other. This is something I fixed in my version as well.
But yeah, I couldn't solve this puzzle correctly either, since I didn't know whether I was missing something or whether I was simply too slow. I tried again but I'm pretty sure I'm missing something...
... which means I cheated to get outside and explore a bit But having to resort to cheat is annoying (especially since this Age is all about not cheating), so I preferred to stop there until I can find the solution to the first puzzle.
...Anyway... Once outside, I bumped the render distance to tenfold the default distance. And while I'm always whining about bad graphics in Fan-Ages, I was really stunned by the sheer size of the place (the farthest I could see was at the maximum draw distance - a bit above 3 kilometers ). While there may be no lighting, the place still has some impressive realism just by the mass of terrain in front of you. Well, at least that's what I think...
Indeed, the lag was quite stunning as well. I already had my program remove performance eaters in the Age, but increased view distance means decreased performances (even with a decent graphic card). It seems Elsewhere doesn't use VisRegions, and for performance you must rely on the short draw distance instead.
...That's when I stopped playing to add a few options to my optimization utility
With today's version, I can use an insane draw distance with absolutely no drop in performance. There are some differences in visuals, but it doesn't stray too far from the original.
Of course it doesn't mean it will run smoothly on older PCs, but it's certainly faster, and decreasing draw distance is pretty easy if you want less lag. Soooooo...
I'm waiting for Denost's answer before making this version available - especially around what he thinks best for draw distance and sky color.
Then there is always the option of using my tool to enhance lighting in the Age like I'm doing in Elodea - but that will definitely change the Age's mood a lot, and the tool itself still needs polishing, so it'll wait.