diff --git a/renderdoc/api/replay/structured_data.h b/renderdoc/api/replay/structured_data.h
index 17ee7cf4c..25af4b446 100644
--- a/renderdoc/api/replay/structured_data.h
+++ b/renderdoc/api/replay/structured_data.h
@@ -375,6 +375,10 @@ private:
   friend void DoSerialise(SerialiserType &ser, SDObjectData &el);
   template <class SerialiserType>
   friend void DoSerialise(SerialiserType &ser, SDObject *el);
+  template <class SerialiserType>
+  friend void DoSerialise(SerialiserType &ser, SDObject &el);
+  template <class SerialiserType>
+  friend void DoSerialise(SerialiserType &ser, SDChunk &el);
 
   DOCUMENT("A list of :class:`SDObject` containing the children of this :class:`SDObject`.");
   mutable StructuredObjectList children;
@@ -932,6 +936,8 @@ private:
   friend void DoSerialise(SerialiserType &ser, SDObject &el);
   template <class SerialiserType>
   friend void DoSerialise(SerialiserType &ser, SDChunk &el);
+  template <class SerialiserType>
+  friend void DoSerialise(SerialiserType &ser, SDObject &el, StructuredObjectList &children);
 
   void DeleteLazyGenerator() const
   {
diff --git a/renderdoc/serialise/serialiser.cpp b/renderdoc/serialise/serialiser.cpp
index 55be7c4e5..56767843d 100644
--- a/renderdoc/serialise/serialiser.cpp
+++ b/renderdoc/serialise/serialiser.cpp
@@ -686,53 +686,53 @@ void DoSerialise(SerialiserType &ser, SDObjectPODData &el)
   SERIALISE_MEMBER(u);
 }
 
-template <class SerialiserType>
-void DoSerialise(SerialiserType &ser, StructuredObjectList &el)
-{
-  // since structured objects aren't intended to be exported as nice structured data, only for pure
-  // transfer purposes, we don't make a proper array here and instead just manually serialise count
-  // + elements
-  uint64_t count = el.size();
-  ser.Serialise("count"_lit, count);
-
-  if(ser.IsReading())
-    el.resize((size_t)count);
-
-  for(size_t c = 0; c < (size_t)count; c++)
-  {
-    // we also assume that the caller serialising these objects will handle lifetime management.
-    if(ser.IsReading())
-      el[c] = new SDObject(""_lit, ""_lit);
-
-    ser.Serialise("$el"_lit, *el[c]);
-  }
-}
-
 template <class SerialiserType>
 void DoSerialise(SerialiserType &ser, SDObjectData &el)
 {
   SERIALISE_MEMBER(basic);
   SERIALISE_MEMBER(str);
-  SERIALISE_MEMBER(children);
+
+  // this is deliberately not serialised here, it's serialised in the parent SDObject. See below
+  // SERIALISE_MEMBER(children);
+}
+
+template <class SerialiserType>
+void DoSerialise(SerialiserType &ser, SDObject &el, StructuredObjectList &children)
+{
+  // serialising the data above doesn't serialise the children, so we can do it here using a
+  // potential lazy generator. This is so that we don't incur the full cost of populating lazy
+  // children all at once (which could be slow). This is a bit of a hack as this can take many
+  // seconds and cause a timeout during transfer, and it would be uglier to try and keep the
+  // connection alive while serialising chunks.
+  uint64_t childCount = children.size();
+  SERIALISE_ELEMENT(childCount).Hidden();
+
+  if(ser.IsReading())
+    children.resize((size_t)childCount);
+
+  for(size_t c = 0; c < el.NumChildren(); c++)
+  {
+    // we also assume that the caller serialising these objects will handle lifetime management.
+    if(ser.IsReading())
+      children[c] = new SDObject(""_lit, ""_lit);
+    else
+      el.PopulateChild(c);
+
+    ser.Serialise("$el"_lit, *children[c]);
+
+    if(ser.IsReading())
+      children[c]->m_Parent = &el;
+  }
 }
 
 template <class SerialiserType>
 void DoSerialise(SerialiserType &ser, SDObject &el)
 {
-  if(ser.IsWriting())
-  {
-    el.PopulateAllChildren();
-  }
-
   SERIALISE_MEMBER(name);
   SERIALISE_MEMBER(type);
   SERIALISE_MEMBER(data);
 
-  if(ser.IsReading())
-  {
-    for(size_t i = 0; i < el.NumChildren(); i++)
-      el.GetChild(i)->m_Parent = &el;
-  }
+  DoSerialise(ser, el, el.data.children);
 }
 
 template <class SerialiserType>
@@ -740,14 +740,10 @@ void DoSerialise(SerialiserType &ser, SDChunk &el)
 {
   SERIALISE_MEMBER(name);
   SERIALISE_MEMBER(type);
-  SERIALISE_MEMBER(data);
   SERIALISE_MEMBER(metadata);
+  SERIALISE_MEMBER(data);
 
-  if(ser.IsReading())
-  {
-    for(size_t i = 0; i < el.NumChildren(); i++)
-      el.GetChild(i)->m_Parent = &el;
-  }
+  DoSerialise(ser, el, el.data.children);
 }
 
 INSTANTIATE_SERIALISE_TYPE(SDChunk);