Will the generated module actually compile and activate?

Yes. Every template is hand-written from 60+ shipped Magento extensions and tested end-to-end, the output passes phpcs --standard=Magento2, phpstan --level=6, and bin/magento module:enable + setup:upgrade on a clean Magento 2.4.4-2.4.9 install. Drop the unzipped folder into app/code/<Vendor>/<Module>/, run the three commands shown on this page, and your module is registered.