Setting up Vdebug without php.ini access

[Amias-Burrows]

I'm trying to set this up on a server and as such, I don't have root access. I'm unable to edit the PHP ini file, using vim at least, I have added these lines to my .htaccess file:

php_value xdebug.start_with_request yes
php_value xdebug.discover_client_host true
php_value xdebug.remote_cookie_expire_time 3600
php_value xdebug.client_host localhost
php_value xdebug.client_port 9003
php_value xdebug.idekey VSCODE

I've also added these lines into my /etc/cl.php.d/alt-php81/custom.ini file:

xdebug.mode=coverage,debug,develop
zend_extension="xdebug.so"
xdebug.remote_enable=1
xdebug.remote_autostart=1
xdebug.remote_port=9003

Using Cpanel I have changed the PHP version to something different and then back to 8.1 restarting the PHP instance. I'm still not able to catch a breakpoint though.