diff --git a/renderdoc/serialise/serialiser.h b/renderdoc/serialise/serialiser.h
index 4fefe5d82..dcdcf35d0 100644
--- a/renderdoc/serialise/serialiser.h
+++ b/renderdoc/serialise/serialiser.h
@@ -117,6 +117,7 @@ public:
   Serialiser(const Serialiser &other) = delete;
 
   bool IsErrored() { return IsReading() ? m_Read->IsErrored() : m_Write->IsErrored(); }
+  bool IsDummy() { return m_Dummy; }
   StreamWriter *GetWriter() { return m_Write; }
   StreamReader *GetReader() { return m_Read; }
   uint32_t GetChunkMetadataRecording() { return m_ChunkFlags; }
@@ -299,7 +300,7 @@ public:
 // ScopedDeseralise* classes. We can verify with e.g. valgrind that there are no leaks, so to keep
 // the analysis non-spammy we just don't allocate for coverity builds
 #if !defined(__COVERITY__)
-        if(flags & SerialiserFlags::AllocateMemory)
+        if(!m_Dummy && (flags & SerialiserFlags::AllocateMemory))
         {
           if(byteSize > 0)
             el = AllocAlignedBuffer(byteSize);
@@ -702,7 +703,7 @@ public:
 // ScopedDeseralise* classes. We can verify with e.g. valgrind that there are no leaks, so to keep
 // the analysis non-spammy we just don't allocate for coverity builds
 #if !defined(__COVERITY__)
-      if(IsReading() && (flags & SerialiserFlags::AllocateMemory))
+      if(IsReading() && !m_Dummy && (flags & SerialiserFlags::AllocateMemory))
       {
         if(arrayCount > 0)
           el = new T[(size_t)arrayCount];
@@ -737,7 +738,7 @@ public:
 // ScopedDeseralise* classes. We can verify with e.g. valgrind that there are no leaks, so to keep
 // the analysis non-spammy we just don't allocate for coverity builds
 #if !defined(__COVERITY__)
-      if(IsReading() && (flags & SerialiserFlags::AllocateMemory))
+      if(IsReading() && !m_Dummy && (flags & SerialiserFlags::AllocateMemory))
       {
         if(arrayCount > 0)
           el = new T[(size_t)arrayCount];
@@ -1487,6 +1488,7 @@ protected:
   Serialiser(StreamWriter *writer, Ownership own);
   Serialiser(StreamReader *reader, Ownership own, SDObject *rootStructuredObj);
 
+  void SetDummy(bool dummy) { m_Dummy = dummy; }
 private:
   static const uint64_t ChunkAlignment = 64;
   template <class SerialiserMode, typename T, bool isEnum = std::is_enum<T>::value>
@@ -1550,6 +1552,7 @@ private:
   // See SetStreamingMode
   bool m_DataStreaming = false;
   bool m_DrawChunk = false;
+  bool m_Dummy = false;
 
   uint64_t m_LastChunkOffset = 0;
   uint64_t m_ChunkFixup = 0;
@@ -1617,6 +1620,7 @@ public:
   {
     ConfigureStructuredExport(lookup, false);
     SetStreamingMode(true);
+    SetDummy(true);
   }
 };
 #endif