I noticed that UESP described a tip about making spells that you can cancel to train your magic skills without actually consuming any magicka. The process I'm talking about is here: http://www.uesp.net/wiki/Daggerfall:Leveling_and_Skills#Free_spells

Basically, you make a spell with multiple effects in the spellmaker, make the last effect a ranged attack, and then cancel the cast before you pick a target.

I can't seem to get that to work. No matter how many times I try casting the spells I made to try this out with, I don't get any skill increases when I rest. Is this something that's been patched out? I'm using the free version from the official website.

If it has been patched out I can't really complain too much; it does seem a little cheap, if perhaps too tempting to resist. But if it hasn't, is there some trick to it I don't know? Like, it only works with specific combinations of spells, or something? I can't seem to get it to work with just a regular cheap ranged destruction spell on its own, either.

Thanks.

After spamming the spell\cancel routine, you need to sleep/wait for quite a bit before you get the results. 1-3 days even. Maye even just fast travel somewhere and you will see them go up.

Though if one of the skills attached to the spell is maxed, it will take much longer or it wont work. Moreso if it's one of your primaries.