Scene file size with Particle Systems - Best Practices

Unity Engine
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Hi, (edited with AI, to make it more readable^^) I’ve noticed concerning file sizes in my Unity scene:

  • Around 400 ParticleSystem components (300 are test data)
  • Each ParticleSystem serializes to ~120kb in the scene file
  • Scene file is 90% ParticleSystem data
  • Previously used prefabs, but overrides caused ~1mb per changed system (Unity 2019)

Runtime performance is fine, even on mobile. But the serialization overhead seems excessive - 120kb for just 4 modules with 8 changed fields?

Are there current best practices for managing ParticleSystem serialization? The prefab approach seems worse than keeping them in scene.