Comparison

tELS vs z_els

Two approaches to emergency lighting. z_els drives the lights already built into ELS, non-ELS and hybrid vehicles, configured in Lua files, with a visual panel designer. tELS draws its own LEDs and patterns, built in an in-game editor. Every row is sourced from each product's public pages.

Try it on the test server View tELS

Price

tELS: $19.99 one-time

z_els: £30.00 one-time (excl. tax)

Status

tELS: Beta

z_els: Not listed

What it is

tELS: Emergency lighting and siren system. tELS draws its own LEDs and patterns on the vehicle.

z_els: Lighting and siren controller for ELS, non-ELS and hybrid vehicles. Uses each vehicle's own extras or native siren lights.

Existing vehicle packs

tELS: Not a drop-in. Each vehicle is set up once in the editor, imported from its carcols.meta, or ships its own tels.json.

z_els: Supports ELS, non-ELS and hybrid vehicles, configured per vehicle in a Lua file named after its spawn code

Where you configure it

tELS: In game with /telsedit. No files to edit, no restart.

z_els: Lua files for each vehicle and each pattern. Control panels are designed in game with Panel.Net.

Light patterns

tELS: Painted per LED on a grid, with per-pattern palettes, frame rates and fading cells. Up to 64 LEDs rendered per vehicle.

z_els: Lua pattern files that step through groups of lights with a delay in milliseconds

Lighting stages

tELS: Stages driven by triggers, plus cruise, takedown and traffic advisor modes

z_els: A custom number of stages per vehicle, with rules for which stages allow sirens or switch on features

Lighting features

tELS: Any light can be placed and patterned in the editor

z_els: Front, rear, grille, rear warning, scene, sign board and steady burn lights, each toggled on its own or tied to stages

Automation

tELS: 74 vehicle-state conditions combined with AND/OR, driving 18 action types, including the in-game clock

z_els: Stage rules, plus day/night automation that switches features by time of day

Sirens

tELS: 8 tone slots per vehicle on main and aux channels, airhorn, rumbler. 12 custom tones plus 14 game sounds.

z_els: Dual tone, alternate tones (rumblers), manual tones, and per-vehicle bullhorn interruption

Server-side sirens

tELS: Optional per tone slot. Players choose game or server sound.

z_els: Supports custom audio banks from server-sided siren resources

Control panel

tELS: Two included layouts, HTML/CSS layout SDK, more from the marketplace

z_els: Panel.Net drag-and-drop panel designer, no coding. Panels can be made per vehicle or department.

NPC traffic

tELS: Not included

z_els: Optional: NPC drivers pull to the right for active sirens

Stage reminder sounds

tELS: A trigger on a stage condition can hold a repeating chirp while that stage is active, set per vehicle

z_els: Optional reminder sounds while chosen stages are active, set per vehicle

Reusing a setup across vehicles

tELS: One vehicle can reference another's patterns, triggers and sirens. In-game community config library.

z_els: Copy a template or an existing vehicle file

Vehicle creators

tELS: Vehicle packs can ship a tels.json, picked up automatically on server start

z_els: Template files vehicle creators can ship with their vehicles

PA microphone

tELS: Included (needs pma-voice)

z_els: Not listed

Integration with other scripts

tELS: State bags, client exports and network events

z_els: Client exports for sirens, tones, stages, lighting features and the panel

Requirements

tELS: OneSync and tLib (free)

z_els: Game build 3095+, server artifact 17000+, z_lib (included)

Try before buying

tELS: Live test server with the editor open

z_els: Showcase video

"Not listed" means it is not in Zea Development's public documentation or store page as of the date below. z_els may support it through configuration or updates not yet documented. Prices are shown in each store's own currency.

When z_els may fit better

You already run ELS, non-ELS or hybrid vehicles and want to drive their existing lights, not rebuild them.
You want to design custom control panels visually, without code.
You want NPC traffic to pull over for active sirens.
You want front, rear, grille, scene and other lights toggled on their own or tied to stages, without building patterns per LED.

Common questions

Will my existing ELS or non-ELS vehicles work in tELS?: Not on their own. tELS doesn't read ELS or non-ELS pattern files. Each vehicle is set up once in the in-game editor, or you paste its carcols.meta into the importer, which converts its siren sets into editable tELS patterns.
Do I have to edit files to set up tELS?: No. LEDs, patterns, triggers and sirens are all built in game with /telsedit, and changes reach every connected player without a restart.
tELS is in beta. What does that mean?: It's under active development. Updates are included for as long as the product is offered, and purchases have a 7-day money-back guarantee.
Can I try it first?: Yes. Connect to the test server, get in a marked vehicle, and open /telsedit to use the editor yourself.

Sources

Last updated October 23, 2026.

tELS

z_els

Other comparisons: tELS vs Luxart Vehicle Control · tELS vs oELS

Based on each product's public documentation and store page as of the date above. Features and prices may change. z_els is a product of Zea Development, and its name belongs to its owner. TIMMYG Studios is not affiliated with, sponsored by, or endorsed by Zea Development.

Feature comparison