Using VSCode for python development can require specific versions of PTVSD. Dropping this module into the project and using the environment variable can make things easier.

ptvsd_data.json

{
    "path" : "C:\\downloaded\\ptvsd-4.2.9\\src",
    "attach" : true,
    "host" : "localhost",
    "port" : 5678,
    "wait" : true
}

ptvsd_setup.py

'''
A setup for using ptvsd in any python environment. 

Assign the env variable PTVSD_JSON to a json file and 
modify to your needs. 

Example:
{
    "path" : "C:\\downloaded\\ptvsd-4.2.9\\src",
    "attach" : true,
    "host" : "localhost",
    "port" : 5678,
    "wait" : true,
    "timeout" : 3
}
'''
import sys
import os
import json

class DebugWire(object):
    '''
    loads from json in PTVSD_JSON
    '''
    def __init__(self):
        '''
        setup with values from json or default
        '''
        self.jsonData = self.LoadJson()
        self.path = self.GetD(attr='path', dValue=None)
        self.attach = self.GetD(attr='attach', dValue=False)
        self.host = self.GetD(attr='host', dValue='localhost')
        self.port = self.GetD(attr='port', dValue=5678)
        self.wait = self.GetD(attr='wait', dValue=False)
        self.timeout = self.GetD(attr='timeout', dValue=0)

    def LoadJson(self):
        '''
        load from disk if exists
        '''
        jsonpath = os.getenv('PTVSD_JSON')
        if os.path.exists(jsonpath):
            with open(jsonpath, 'r') as jFile:
                return json.load(jFile)
        return {}

    def GetD(self, attr=None, dValue=None):
        '''
        get from json data or passed default
        '''
        if attr in self.jsonData.keys():
            return self.jsonData[attr]
        else:
            return dValue

    def Startup(self):
        '''
        begin ptvsd behavior
        '''
        if self.path is not None and os.path.exists(self.path):
            if self.attach:
                if self.path not in sys.path:
                    sys.path.append(self.path)
                import ptvsd
                ptvsd.enable_attach(address=(self.host, self.port), redirect_output=True)
                if self.wait:
                    ptvsd.wait_for_attach(timeout=None if self.timeout <= 0 else self.timeout)

# start the instance
DebugWire().Startup()
print ('PTVSD setup complete')