diff --git a/renderdoc/driver/vulkan/vk_serialise.cpp b/renderdoc/driver/vulkan/vk_serialise.cpp
index 58cea318a..be1b47524 100644
--- a/renderdoc/driver/vulkan/vk_serialise.cpp
+++ b/renderdoc/driver/vulkan/vk_serialise.cpp
@@ -1244,12 +1244,15 @@ static void SerialiseNext(SerialiserType &ser, VkStructureType &sType, const voi
     // thing user-facing.
     ser.Named("pNextType"_lit).Hidden();
 
+// if we encounter an unsupported struct on read we *cannot* continue since we don't know the
+// members that got serialised after it
 #define PNEXT_UNSUPPORTED(StructType)                                    \
   case StructType:                                                       \
   {                                                                      \
     RDCERR("No support for " #StructType " is available in this build"); \
     pNext = NULL;                                                        \
-    break;                                                               \
+    ser.SetErrored();                                                    \
+    return;                                                              \
   }
 
 // if we come across a struct we should process, then serialise a pointer to it.
@@ -1287,12 +1290,15 @@ static void SerialiseNext(SerialiserType &ser, VkStructureType &sType, const voi
   }
   else    // ser.IsWriting()
   {
+// if we hit an unsupported struct, error and then just skip it entirely from the chain and move
+// onto the next one in the list
 #undef PNEXT_UNSUPPORTED
 #define PNEXT_UNSUPPORTED(StructType)                                    \
   case StructType:                                                       \
   {                                                                      \
     RDCERR("No support for " #StructType " is available in this build"); \
-    return;                                                              \
+    handled = true;                                                      \
+    break;                                                               \
   }
 
 // if we come across a struct we should process, then serialise a pointer to its type (to tell the
@@ -1326,7 +1332,8 @@ static void SerialiseNext(SerialiserType &ser, VkStructureType &sType, const voi
         case VK_STRUCTURE_TYPE_MAX_ENUM: break;
       }
 
-      RDCERR("Invalid pNext structure sType: %u", next->sType);
+      if(!handled)
+        RDCERR("Invalid pNext structure sType: %u", next->sType);
 
       // walk to the next item if we didn't serialise the current one
       next = (VkBaseInStructure *)next->pNext;
@@ -1352,6 +1359,14 @@ static inline void DeserialiseNext(const void *pNext)
   if(pNext == NULL)
     return;
 
+#undef PNEXT_UNSUPPORTED
+#define PNEXT_UNSUPPORTED(StructType)                                    \
+  case StructType:                                                       \
+  {                                                                      \
+    RDCERR("No support for " #StructType " is available in this build"); \
+    return;                                                              \
+  }
+
 #undef PNEXT_STRUCT
 #define PNEXT_STRUCT(StructType, StructName)            \
   case StructType:                                      \
diff --git a/renderdoc/serialise/serialiser.h b/renderdoc/serialise/serialiser.h
index 45c4055cd..d082c864f 100644
--- a/renderdoc/serialise/serialiser.h
+++ b/renderdoc/serialise/serialiser.h
@@ -115,6 +115,7 @@ public:
   Serialiser(const Serialiser &other) = delete;
 
   bool IsErrored() { return IsReading() ? m_Read->IsErrored() : m_Write->IsErrored(); }
+  void SetErrored() { IsReading() ? m_Read->SetErrored() : m_Write->SetErrored(); }
   bool IsDummy() { return m_Dummy; }
   StreamWriter *GetWriter() { return m_Write; }
   StreamReader *GetReader() { return m_Read; }
diff --git a/renderdoc/serialise/streamio.h b/renderdoc/serialise/streamio.h
index 79bff33d0..cecec07dc 100644
--- a/renderdoc/serialise/streamio.h
+++ b/renderdoc/serialise/streamio.h
@@ -92,6 +92,7 @@ public:
   ~StreamReader();
 
   bool IsErrored() { return m_HasError; }
+  void SetErrored() { m_HasError = true; }
   void SetOffset(uint64_t offs);
 
   inline uint64_t GetOffset() { return m_BufferHead - m_BufferBase + m_ReadOffset; }
@@ -129,7 +130,7 @@ public:
     if(numBytes == 0 || m_Dummy)
       return true;
 
-    if(!m_BufferBase)
+    if(!m_BufferBase || m_HasError)
     {
       // read 0s if we're in an error state
       if(data)
@@ -296,6 +297,7 @@ public:
   StreamWriter(Compressor *compressor, Ownership own);
 
   bool IsErrored() { return m_HasError; }
+  void SetErrored() { m_HasError = true; }
   static const int DefaultScratchSize = 32 * 1024;
 
   ~StreamWriter();