You might want to try tilting modules. Those at least provide a generating set with trivial self-extensions.
If I recall correctly, each tilting is left and right orthogonal to all but finitely many simples, and vice-versa, and every finite-dimensional module has a finite-length tilting resolution.
That is, the derived category of finite-dimensional modular representations is derived equivalent to bounded, finite rank perfect complexes over the endomorphism ring of the tiltings.