I've tried CpuKiller and clicking while David nods to get past this timing garbage. For the life of me I can't imagine what idiot thought this little "puzzle" would mesh well with the rest of the game.

Is there an unofficial patch that addresses it? (ie: does anyone have one? XD )

Getting past the bell works it just has very weird timing you have to klick again at the time when David is going down for the second nod. If he doesn't nod at all you probably just haven't gotten the information on how to open the door. You NEED it even if you know the sequence

I'm ashamed to admit it, but after trying for an aggregate of two or three hours I gave up and downloaded a previous save. =/

First get the code and then ring the bell as if there were no pauses. At least this worked for me. (if you can click x times and David nods, then your timing is correct, just keep clicking)

I couldn't resist and poked around data directory and found files related to this. But I can't do anything without proper tools.

What type of file is it?
I would really love to be able to hack some way to avoid using other people's save files in future replays.

Silver\Data\Levels\Rain\Towngate\towngate.sct - there are strings like "code timeout", "pause timeout", "wrong timeout" etc. It seems to contain compiled scripts but it can be hardly edited without developers tools.

Someday we will figure this out.

Is it hex?
I tried opening it with XVI32 and Notepad++ but I'm really terrible (and don't have much time for this) at this stuff.

Well i did have a quick look at this problem and i found i way of glitching past it using my save anywhere
(can be gotten at http://www.gog.com/en/forum/silver/can_you_save_more_than_once/post14)
here is a video showing it happening
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tISsOdV5R5A
Basically to make it glitch you save while on the bell screen (using saveanywhere), then load that save by pressing ESC then clicking load, then you will be able to walk right through the door even though its closed.
Hope this may help anyone stuck here.

Save anywhere is totally a keypress that I forgot about isn't it?

Nice job!
If this works for everyone I guess problem solved?

Can confirm it works.

There seems to be a relation between how fast your computer is & the amount of time you have to "pause" before ringing the bell again.

There is a YouTube video showing how to do the ringing on a newer computer here:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WM881Agm49M

The key point in this puzzle is that David HAVE to nod his head for it to work. If he doesn't, then your timing is off.

Found a youtube video of a guy explaining the bell puzzle: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pQfwlbHgr48

Yeah ! Thanks to the video I've made it !

It's not buggy in fact, it's just dumb or not well programed I don't know...

Tip : Clic constantly on your mouse with your index finger until the clock rings three times (your character will nod with his) and then just let your index finger in "mid air" (it's hard to describe : just like if you were "charging" to make a big click...) before turning back to click again until the clock rings two times. Let your finger in mid air again, and then go clicking for the last ringing.

Try it several times.

A chronicler appears next to you just after you opened the gate.

3 years later, thanks, it did work for me !!

Awesome, both the tool and the fix!
Thanks!

I just ran into this.
It seems waiting one sec is plain wrong.
You need to wait a fraction of a sec, try starting the next sequence somewhere between the first and second nod.