Does SS require .htaccess files? Can I not put all the directive directly in a vhost.conf file?

The site itself works when I do this, but I'm getting 404 errors on include files like .css and .js.

If .conf files do work, does anyone have an example? Seems like I'm missing something simple here.

This is what I have in my .conf file:

# Process through SilverStripe if no file with the requested name exists.
# Pass through the original path as a query parameter, and retain the existing parameters.
RewriteCond %{REQUEST_URI} ^(.*)$
RewriteCond %{REQUEST_FILENAME} !-f
RewriteRule .* %{DOCUMENT_ROOT}/framework/main.php?url=%1 [QSA]

EDIT: I was missing something simple. Totally forgot to wrap these statements in <Directory /path/to/root>...</Directory> tags. Works like a charm!