diff --git a/renderdoc/driver/shaders/spirv/spirv_debug.cpp b/renderdoc/driver/shaders/spirv/spirv_debug.cpp
index 04b0aa948..4a9eeac2e 100644
--- a/renderdoc/driver/shaders/spirv/spirv_debug.cpp
+++ b/renderdoc/driver/shaders/spirv/spirv_debug.cpp
@@ -262,7 +262,11 @@ void ThreadState::WritePointerValue(Id pointer, const ShaderVariable &val)
     // plus any additional ones for other pointers.
     Id ptrid = debugger.GetPointerBaseId(var);
 
-    bool firstLocalWrite = ReferencePointer(ptrid);
+    // only track local writes when we don't have debug info, so we can track variables first
+    // becoming alive
+    bool firstLocalWrite = false;
+    if(!debugger.HasDebugInfo())
+      firstLocalWrite = ReferencePointer(ptrid);
 
     ShaderVariableChange basechange;
 
@@ -314,9 +318,9 @@ void ThreadState::WritePointerValue(Id pointer, const ShaderVariable &val)
     // This one is not included in any of the pointers lists above
     basechange.after = debugger.GetPointerValue(ids[ptrid]);
 
-    // if this is the first local write when we have no debug info, mark this variable as becoming
-    // alive here, instead of at its declaration
-    if(firstLocalWrite && !debugger.HasDebugInfo())
+    // if this is the first local write, mark this variable as becoming alive here, instead of at
+    // its declaration
+    if(firstLocalWrite)
       basechange.before.name = "";
 
     m_State->changes.push_back(basechange);